Internet Journalism the Most Prosecuted, CPJ Reports

Internet is not only the new medium, the great equalizer in terms of access worldwide. For the first time, it's also the most feared and repressed.

According to a Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) report released today, "more Internet journalists are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium."

According to the CPJ survey, out of the 125 journalists imprisoned throughout the world, 56, or 45 percent of them, "are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors."

Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt has
been sentenced to 20 and a half years in prison.

"China continued to be world's worst jailer of journalists, a dishonor it has held for 10 consecutive years," the report says. "Cuba, Burma, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan round out the top five jailers from among the 29 nations that imprison journalists. Each of the top five nations has persistently placed among the world's worst in detaining journalists."

Its versatility, enormous range and viral characteristics of its content have turned the Internet into a clear and present danger for repressive regimes the world over.

More from the CPJ report:

"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."
(...)
Illustrating the evolving media landscape, the increase in online-related jailings has been accompanied by a rise in imprisonments of freelance journalists. Forty-five of the journalists on CPJ's census are freelancers; most of them work online. These freelancers are not employees of media companies and often do not have the legal resources or political connections that might help them gain their freedom. The number of imprisoned freelancers has risen more than 40 percent in the last two years, according to CPJ research.

"The image of the solitary blogger working at home in pajamas may be appealing, but when the knock comes on the door they are alone and vulnerable," said CPJ's Simon. "All of us must stand up for their rights--from Internet companies to journalists and press freedom groups. The future of journalism is online and we are now in a battle with the enemies of press freedom who are using imprisonment to define the limits of public discourse."

This blog is chock-full of examples of how dangerous it has become to use this wonderful communications tool in too many autocratic regimes. Our primary function is for those crimes against  press freedom and free speech not to go unnoticed.