The number of journalists imprisoned remains at record highs. Trump isn’t helping.
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Version 0 of 1. IT IS discomfiting when politicians toss out the blistering “fake news” gibe to distract from embarrassing facts, delegitimize the news media or erode its credibility. Most of the time, the news is not fake, which the claimants know, but readers and listeners may not. Thankfully, in the United States and other democracies, this corrosive and coarse practice is primarily a war of words. In other nations, journalists are thrown into prison, their lives and those of their families are ruined, and their societies are denied the oxygen of good information. The latest study by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) shows that the number of journalists imprisoned for their work in 2019 remains at record highs. China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the worst jailers, followed by Eritrea, Vietnam and Iran. Overall, there are 250 journalists in jail for their work, compared with 255 a year earlier, not much below the peak of 273 in 2016. These are just the journalists incarcerated as of Dec. 1 and do not include many more, probably thousands, who were detained for shorter periods, violently assaulted, wiretapped, surveilled, harassed, smeared or intimidated by the authorities. Add to that the artists, writers, poets and activists who were victims of the same abuse by governments, and the numbers swell more. In this digital age, the old boundaries blur; for example, Raif Badawi, one of 26 journalists identified by CPJ in Saudi Arabia’s jails, was a blogger who created a discussion forum for liberal views about the kingdom. For that he has been sitting in a cell since 2012. Sadly, “enemy of the people,” the vicious Stalin-era label that led to arbitrary arrest, followed by penal colony banishment or execution, appears to be used more and more often as a companion to “fake news.” President Trump set a bad example by throwing it about carelessly. Now other world leaders who have no use for democracy are copying this insidious tactic. Freedom House pointed out recently, in another study, how press freedom is receding even in nations that are democracies. “Elected leaders in many democracies, who should be press freedom’s staunchest defenders, have made explicit attempts to silence critical media voices and strengthen outlets that serve up favorable coverage,” Freedom House concluded. The news media is a vital part of civil society, the tugging and pulling between people and their leaders, and the media’s health is absolutely critical to the health of democracy. The CPJ report is added evidence of a global retreat from democratic values and norms. Once upon a time, the United States attempted to be a beacon for those standards. A word to an ally such as Egypt, which receives billions in U.S. aid, might open the jail cell doors. But if the word isn’t spoken, then what? That’s where we are today. Read more: The Post’s View: Journalists around the world sit behind bars for telling the truth Jason Rezaian: A new global press freedom report shows just how dangerous journalism is today The Post’s View: A jailed blogger in Azerbaijan is on a hunger strike to fight bogus charges. He must be freed. Jason Rezaian: Imprisoned for a job well done, reporters are finally freed in Myanmar Fred Ryan: It is wrong — and corrosive — to conflate ‘unfavorable news’ and ‘fake news’ |