Asia Sentinel

Online hacks now jailed more than those in any other medium

As the year draws to an end, journalists are continuing to go to jail across the world for attempting to report what governments don’t want them to report. And, despite the perception that there is relative safety in Internet journalism, bloggers are going to jail faster than members of the mainstream press, according to a survey by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

For the tenth straight year, China has put more reporters in prison than any other country, although Cuba, Burma, Eritrea and Uzbekistan are not far behind. The prison census has fallen slightly, by two reporters, according to the survey. Each of the five countries has consistently placed among the world’s worst in detaining journalists

At least 56 online journalists are jailed worldwide, according to CPJ’s census, a tally that surpasses the number of print journalists for the first time. Some 45 percent of the 125 journalists imprisoned worldwide as of December 1 are bloggers, web-based reporters or online editors, the CPJ found, representing the largest professional category in CPJ’s prison census. The arrests reflect the rising influence of online reporting and commentary, the CPJ said, but they probably also reflect the relative lack of legal protection that is afforded to journalists from their employment by larger media organizations.

As Asia Sentinel reported on Nov. 26 (see: Journalist shot and killed in Assam), in line with the slightly falling numbers of imprisoned journalists, the number of murdered journalists has fallen as well, with at least 36 murdered and another 17 missing or unconfirmed as to whether they died on the job. Ironically, it is putative democracies include Colombia, India, Russia and the Philippines that are among the worst countries in the world at prosecuting journalists’ killers, according to a list compiled in April by CPJ.

Across Asia, two reporters each were killed in Thailand, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, four in Pakistan and at least three in India, according to the Committee to protect Journalists. The latest to die was Indian journalist Jagjit Saikia, a district correspondent for the daily newspaper Amar Asom, who was shot dead in the northeastern Indian state of Assam on November 23.

While that is a bloody toll, it is down considerably from 2007, when at least 65 journalists died on the job, the highest death toll since 1994, when 66 died amid conflicts in Algeria, Bosnia and Rwanda, according to CPJ. Iraq in 2007 led the world for the fifth straight year, with 32 killed. Somalia was second with seven. The press advocacy organization was investigating another 23 deaths in to attempt to determine if they were related to their jobs in journalism. As the Iraq war has wound down, the total of journalists murdered there in 2008 has fallen to a still high 10, with two more murdered but it is unclear if their deaths were related to their jobs.

Among those imprisoned, 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. “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.”

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