Autocrats around the world kill and jail journalists
By now, most people know the story of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian: imprisoned by Iran for 544 days, championed by his employer and freed in a prisoner swap last month brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry.
What many people don’t know is that jailing journalists and even killing them, just for doing their jobs, is a common occurrence in many parts of the world. Last year, 49 journalists were murdered, nearly double the toll in 2014, and 199 were jailed.
Turkey, one of America’s NATO allies, imprisoned 14 journalists last year and vaulted into fifth place in a rogue’s gallery of jailers, right behind China, Egypt, Iran and Eritrea — all countries where journalists who seek to practice freedom of speech may pay by losing their freedoms.
Prominent journalist groups, a Turkish Nobel laureate and Vice President Biden have all excoriated the Turkish government for these crackdowns. But this is not an issue limited to journalists. U.S. citizens cherish freedom and democracy. Neither can survive without a free press that informs the public and serves as a watchdog on government power.
In November, Turkey jailed two prominent journalists who reported that Turkey’s intelligence agency was secretly sending heavy weapons and ammunition to Syrian rebels. Even though the report was backed by a videotape on their newspaper’s website, Turkey’s increasingly autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called the report “slander.”
The two men, editor Can Dündar and correspondent Erdem Gül, were arrested, tossed in jail and indicted on espionage charges. Last month, though neither has faced trial, prosecutors proposed sentences of “aggravated life,” meaning they’d face particularly tough conditions during a lifetime in prison. Such sentences would seem more appropriate for the most violent criminals.
For its part, Turkey offers plenty of excuses, such as claiming that some of the journalists were not credentialed or that some were charged with crimes such as murder. But journalism is not a credential profession. And a Turkish journalist accused of murder had seen that charge thrown out twice before by the Turkish Supreme Court, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Arrest and imprisonment to frighten independent reporters into silence are almost tradition in many countries, but some courageous journalists face far worse. CPJ says 781 journalists have been murdered for doing their jobs since 1992. Nearly 90% of the murders remain unsolved, sending a message that the government isn’t all that interested in bringing the killers to justice.
Contrary to what you might think, covering wars is not the most dangerous job. Covering politics is. Last year, that was the job of nearly 80% of the 49 journalists murdered. The majority received death threats before they died; many were held captive, and some were tortured.
Autocrats around the world know that a good way to stay in control and cow citizens is to prevent a free press from taking hold, and the best way to do that is to silence independent journalists who dare to tell the truth.