Journalists behind bars
THE Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a list of governments that detained journalists last year. The New York-based group listed 320 journalists behind bars, with Israel surging in the list of top jailers in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.
This number is lower than the 363 journalists imprisoned in 2022. However, the CPJ noted that last year’s figure is “a disturbing barometer of entrenched authoritarianism and the vitriol of governments determined to smother independent voices.”
“Our research shows how entrenched authoritarianism is globally, with governments emboldened to stamp out critical reports and prevent public accountability,” said CPJ Chief Executive Officer Jodie Ginsberg.
“Across the world, we have reached a critical moment. We need to see an end to the weaponization of laws that silence reporting and ensure journalists are free to report. During a banner election year, with billions of people headed to the polls around the world, anything less is a disservice to democracy and harms us all,” she added.
Once more, China topped the list of jailers of journalists, with 44 imprisoned as of Dec.1, 2023. It was followed by Myanmar with 43, Belarus with 26, Russia with 22 and Vietnam with 19. Iran only had 17, which is a steep decline from the 62 journalists it jailed in 2022.
The report noted the importance of an awakened citizenry in upholding press freedom.
“Iran’s number saw a sharp decline … following its clampdown on coverage of nationwide women’s protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini,” said the report. The nationwide strike had the effect of somehow muting the harsh conditions of journalists in Iran.
Another major change in the results is Israel shooting up the list, with 17 jailed Palestinian journalists.
“Israel has appeared several times in CPJ’s annual census. But this is the first time there was such a sharp increase in the number of detained Palestinian journalists since the CPJ began documenting cases in 1992. It is also the first time that Israel has ranked among the top six offenders,” noted the CPJ.
What about the Philippines, which topped the list as “the most dangerous place for journalists” in 2009 after the cold-blooded Ampatuan massacre of journalists?
The CPJ noted the continuing detention of journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who is from Leyte. She was arrested in February 2020 on charges of illegal possession of firearms and financing terrorism.
Her lawyers and human rights groups have branded the charges as “trumped-up.”
Moreover, the CPJ has withering criticism for the Philippines’ media environment, which it called “harsh,” despite “less overt antagonism” under the leadership of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as compared to that of his predecessor.
Ex-president Rodrigo Duterte became infamous for his controversial statements that had a chilling effect on journalists during his term.
In a stroke of irony, the prison census of CPJ came out only a few days after media groups criticized Presidential Task Force on Media Security official Paul Gutierrez for “red-tagging Cumpio” in his column.
The People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) took “strong exception” to his remark, which was made on January 4.
“There is absolutely no point for anyone, more so a high government official, to forget that ‘everyone is innocent until proven in a court of law,’” Altermidya said in a statement.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said that Gutierrez’s remarks highlight how “red-tagging has become institutionalized in the Philippines and has become an undeclared policy [of the government].”
It noted the “absurdity” of having an official of a body that was created ostensibly for media security to put “journalists at risk by accusing them of being enemies of the state.”
The history of the Philippine press has been one of resistance and struggle. The nationalist La Solidaridad, published in Madrid, stoked the flames of independence. It shifted attention away from the Philippines being a province of Spain to it being an independent country. Tagalog newspapers printed from inside moving trains in 1898. Publications during the Japanese occupation and the martial law period showed how a free press could open the eyes of a people. It is a role that it should still play, even when governments are hostile to wielders of the pen.