Countries imprisoning journalists in 2022
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Countries with deaths in 2022
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Attacks on the Press in 2022
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Attacks on the Press in 2022
Explore the data from CPJ’s 2021 report on Attacks on the Press worldwide.
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual prison census has documented 363 journalists imprisoned for their work as of December 1, a new global high that overtook the 2021 record by 20%.
Interactive map by Geoff McGhee for CPJ
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The Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual prison census has documented 363 journalists imprisoned for their work as of December 1, a new global high that overtook the 2021 record by 20%.
Interactive map by Geoff McGhee for CPJ
Scroll to continue
Journalists imprisoned in 2022
This year’s top five jailers of journalists are Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey, and Belarus, respectively. A key driver behind authoritarian governments’ increasingly oppressive efforts to stifle the media: trying to keep the lid on broiling discontent in a world disrupted by COVID-19 and the economic fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
This map shows the countries imprisoning journalists in 2022.
Journalists imprisoned in 2022
This map shows the countries imprisoning journalists in 2022.
Read about our methodologyImprisonments by country
Click on countries in the list at left to see journalists imprisoned in 2022.
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Imprisonments by country
Click on countries in the list below to see journalists imprisoned in 2022.
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Iran — #1 in 2022
Following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested for allegedly breaking Iran’s hijab law, Iran’s crackdown on mass protests left at least 62 journalists in jail as of December 1. This represents the highest number documented by CPJ for Iran in the 30 years of its census, easily surpassing the previous imprisonment record set during the aftermath of the country’s disputed 2009 election.
China – #2 in 2022
China’s tight censorship of the media and the fear of speaking out in a country that conducts such extensive surveillance on its people makes it especially difficult to research the exact number of journalists among its prison population. Against that backdrop, the slight drop in the known number of journalists jailed in the country – from a revised total of 48 in 2021 to 43 in 2022 – should not be interpreted as any easing of the country’s intolerance for independent reporting.
Myanmar – #3 in 2022
Myanmar catapulted into CPJ’s census rankings as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, when a February military coup ousted the country’s elected government and cracked down on coverage of the new regime. The number of Myanmar journalists known to be jailed on December 1 rose to at least 42 – up from a revised 30 last year – as the regime doubled down on its efforts to mute reporters and disrupt the country’s few remaining independent media outlets.
Turkey – #4 in 2022
The number of journalists held in Turkey rose from 18 in 2021 to 40 in 2022 after the arrests of 25 Kurdish journalists in the second half of the year. The journalists’ lawyers told CPJ all were jailed on suspicion of terrorism – a result of the country’s ongoing efforts to silence those it associates with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). While even this year’s jump in numbers has left fewer journalists in prison than in the aftermath of a failed 2016 coup attempt, Turkey’s independent media remain decimated by government shutdowns, takeovers, and the forcing of scores of journalists into exile or out of the profession.
Belarus – #5 in 2022
Belarus held 26 journalists in custody on December 1 – up from 19 last year. Almost half are yet to be sentenced; two are serving terms of 10 or more years. All known charges are either retaliatory or anti-state, such as treason. The arrests have taken place against the backdrop of President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s ongoing vindictiveness against those covering the aftermath of his disputed 2020 election.
Explore the data
Explore CPJ’s data on journalists who were imprisoned because of their work
Methodology
Imprisonments
CPJ’s annual prison census accounts only for journalists in government custody and does not include those who have disappeared or are held captive by non-state actors. These cases are classified as “missing” or “abducted.”
CPJ’s list is a snapshot of those incarcerated at 12:01 a.m. on December 1, 2022. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year. CPJ includes only those journalists who it has confirmed have been imprisoned in relation to their work. Journalists remain on CPJ’s list until the organization determines with reasonable certainty that they have been released or have died in custody.
A note on the map
The map reflects that CPJ holds Russian authorities responsible for press freedom violations in Ukraine’s Crimea after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula led to de facto control of its media sphere.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.
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Erik Crouch | Radio Free (2022-12-14T17:09:08+00:00) Attacks on the Press in 2022. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2022/12/14/attacks-on-the-press-in-2022/
" » Attacks on the Press in 2022." Erik Crouch | Radio Free - Wednesday December 14, 2022, https://www.radiofree.org/2022/12/14/attacks-on-the-press-in-2022/
HARVARDErik Crouch | Radio Free Wednesday December 14, 2022 » Attacks on the Press in 2022., viewed ,<https://www.radiofree.org/2022/12/14/attacks-on-the-press-in-2022/>
VANCOUVERErik Crouch | Radio Free - » Attacks on the Press in 2022. [Internet]. [Accessed ]. Available from: https://www.radiofree.org/2022/12/14/attacks-on-the-press-in-2022/
CHICAGO" » Attacks on the Press in 2022." Erik Crouch | Radio Free - Accessed . https://www.radiofree.org/2022/12/14/attacks-on-the-press-in-2022/
IEEE" » Attacks on the Press in 2022." Erik Crouch | Radio Free [Online]. Available: https://www.radiofree.org/2022/12/14/attacks-on-the-press-in-2022/. [Accessed: ]
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