As the world rang in the new year, French media watchdog Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) revealed that at least 547 journalists, including a Filipino reporter, remain in prison for doing their job, as the organization called for their release and urged authoritarian governments to stop the legal harassment of media workers.
“Each journalist in prison is by definition a journalist prevented from working. It’s also a journalist who will be intimidated in the future. And it’s hundreds or even thousands of colleagues feeling a threat hanging over their head,” said RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire.
According to their year end roundup, at least one journalist has been detained in connection with their work in 86 countries for the last five years, and that while 2022 was a “record year” in terms of the number, totaling around 569 journalists detained, “imprisonment continues to be widely used to combat press freedom.”
It said at least 779 journalists were jailed at some point in 2023, with 547 currently in prison or under house arrest in a total of 45 countries. The prison sentences passed on journalists this year ranged from a week to 20 years.
China, as usual, continues to be the world’s biggest offender against journalists, with 121 reporters currently detained. Myanmar, whose civilian government was taken over by a military junta in 2021, is second with 69. More recently, about 34 Palestinian journalists have been detained by Israeli forces, mostly without charge or trial, since Hamas’ attacked on October 7 last year. This is on top of the 76 journalists killed by the Israeli military since the start of the war.
In the Philippines, where broadcast journalists Cris Bunduquin and Juan Jumalon were killed last year, two reporters are still or were detained this year. Still in detention is Frenchie Mae Cumpio, a journalist from Tacloban City who was arrested on Feb. 7, 2020, charged with illegal possession of firearms, a non bailable offense. This is independent of the other forms of attacks faced by Filipino media, who face the risk of Red tagging, harassment, legal intimidation, and physical violence simply for doing their jobs.
As humanity enters the new year with hope, governments should also provide more hope and protection for its journalists and media workers who are simply doing their job, by protecting them from violence and harassment, which aside from preventing the use of the law to silence the members of the fourth estate, should also include efforts to decriminalize libel and harsher penalties for those who are caught manipulating the legal system to sow terror upon journalists.*
