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Online media workers top journalists’ prison census

* China leads CPJ’s survey for 10th consecutive year
* Repressive governments cracking down on online journalists

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: Reflecting an increase in the influence of online reporting and commentary, more ‘Internet journalists’ are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium, a media watchdog has said in its latest report.

In its annual census of imprisoned journalists – released late on Thursday evening in New York – the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) found that 45 percent of all media workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, web-based reporters or online editors. Online journalists represent the largest professional category for the first time in CPJ’s prison censuses.

The latest survey found that in all 125 journalists were behind bars on December 1 – a decrease of two from the 2007 tally.

China worst: “China continued to be the world’s worst jailer of journalists, a dishonour it has held for 10 consecutive years,” said the CPJ. “Cuba, Burma, Eritrea and Uzbekistan round out the top five jailers from among the 29 nations that imprison journalists.” Each of the top five nations has been persistently placed among the world’s worst in detaining journalists.

At least 56 online journalists are jailed worldwide, according to the CPJ census – a tally that surpasses the number of print journalists for the first time. The number of imprisoned online journalists has steadily increased since CPJ recorded the first jailed Internet writer in its 1997 census.

Print reporters, editors and photographers make up the next largest professional category, with 53 cases in 2008. Television and radio journalists and documentary filmmakers constitute the rest.

“Online journalism has changed the media landscape and the way we communicate with each other,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. Repressive governments: “But the power and influence of this new generation of online journalists has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world, and they have accelerated their counterattack.”

“The image of the solitary blogger working at home in pajamas may be appealing, but when the knock comes at the door … they are alone and vulnerable,” said CPJ’s Simon. “All of us must stand up for their rights … from Internet companies to journalists and press freedom groups. The future of journalism is online, and we are now in a battle with the enemies of press freedom who are using imprisonment to define the limits of public discourse.” Anti-state allegations such as perceived subversion, divulging state secrets and acting against national interests are the most common charges used to imprison journalists worldwide, CPJ found.

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