It’s been an especially bleak year for defenders of press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported.
In its annual 2021 prison census, the U.S based organization promoting press freedom globally said that the number of reporters jailed for their work hit a new global record of 293, a number higher than the last year.
280 Journalists were imprisoned the last year in 2020.
At least 24 journalists were killed because of their coverage so far this year; 18 others died in circumstances too murky to determine whether they were specific targets.
Forty of the 293 detained journalists – nearly 14% – are women.
CPJ noted that China remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row, with 50 behind bars. Myanmar soared to the second slot after the media crackdown that followed its February 1 military coup. Egypt, Vietnam, and Belarus, respectively, rounded out the top five.
The highest number of journalists were killed in India – four – confirmed to have been murdered in retaliation for their work. A fifth was killed while covering a protest.
” In addition, authoritarian leaders are increasingly finding more sophisticated ways to block independent reporters and outlets – notably internet shutdowns and increased surveillance through high-tech spyware – than keeping them behind bars,” the CPJ said.