Journalism: Safety of Journalists

Background

Safety of journalists is the ability for journalists and media professionals to receive, produce and share information without facing physical or moral threats.

Journalists can face violence and intimidation for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression. The range of threats they are confronted to include murder, kidnapping, hostage-taking, offline and online harassment, intimidation, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture. Women journalists also face specific dangers and are especially vulnerable to sexual assault, "whether in the form of a targeted sexual violation, often in reprisal for their work; mob-related sexual violence aimed against journalists covering public events; or the sexual abuse of journalists in detention or captivity. Many of these crimes are not reported as a result of powerful cultural and professional stigmas."

Increasingly, journalists, and particularly women journalists, are facing abuse and harassment online, such as hate speech,   cyber-bullying,   cyber-stalking,   doxing [doxxing],  trolling,   public shaming, and intimidation and threats.

Additional Reading

It's been an especially bleak year for defenders of press freedom. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)'s 2021 prison census found that the number of reporters jailed for their work hit a new global record of 293, up from a revised total of 280 in 2020. At least 24 journalists were killed because of their coverage so far this year; 18 others died in circumstances too murky to determine whether they were specific targets.

China  [Mass media in China] remains the world's worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row, with 50 behind bars. Myanmar soared to the second slot after the media crackdown that followed its 2021-02-01 military coup. Egypt,  Vietnam, and Belarus, respectively, rounded out the top five.

The reasons for the relentless climb in the numbers of detained journalists - this is the sixth consecutive year that CPJ's census has recorded at least 250 incarcerated - differ between countries. But all reflect a stark trend: a growing intolerance of independent reporting. Emboldened autocrats  [autocracy] are increasingly ignoring due process and flouting international norms to keep themselves in power. In a world preoccupied with COVID-19  [COVID-19 pandemic] and trying to prioritize issues like climate change, repressive governments are clearly aware that public outrage at human rights abuses is blunted and democratic governments have less appetite for political retaliation or economic retaliation.

It's true that some unexpected countries did buck the trend of putting more journalists in prison. Turkey, once the world's worst jailer of journalists, is now ranked sixth in the CPJ census after releasing 20 prisoners in the last year. Eighteen remain. Saudi Arabia's release of 10 prisoners - it's holding 14 after no new journalists were recorded on the 2021 census - means it is no longer among the five biggest offenders.

However, it would be naïve to see lower prisoner numbers as a sign of a change of heart toward the press. As CPJ has noted, Turkey's crackdown after a failed coup attempt in 2016  [2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt] effectively eradicated the country's mainstream media and prompted many journalists to leave the profession. Turkey's prison count is also declining as the government allows more journalists out on parole to await trial or appeal outcomes.

In Saudi Arabia, the intimidatory effect of Jamal Khashoggi's horrific murder  [Wikipedia: Jamal Khashoggi] in 2018, along with several new detentions in 2019, is likely to have silenced many journalists more effectively than any fresh wave of arrests. In addition, authoritarian leaders are increasingly finding more sophisticated ways to block independent reporters and outlets - notably internet shutdowns and increased surveillance through high-tech spyware - than keeping them behind bars.

China's relentless incarceration of journalists is not new. However, this is the first time journalists held in Hong Kong are found on CPJ's annual census - a result of the implementation of the draconian 2020 National Security Law  [Wikipedia: Hong Kong national security law] imposed in response to the city's historic   pro-democracy protests.

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This past year, uncertainty blanketed our world. The COVID-19 pandemic, the rapidly advancing climate crisis, the pervasive nature of new technologies, and encroaching authoritarianism have all shown that our world is changing fast and in ways that fundamentally affect how we live. As conspiracy theories laced with facts have spread to the general public, it is clear that we need reliable, independent information. We need journalists - the kind who hold the powerful to account and whose reporting serves as a bedrock for democracy. Yet, such journalists often face relentless, targeted attacks.

For 40 years, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has assessed the state of press freedom worldwide and in 2021, the data speaks for itself. A record number of journalists were imprisoned: at least 293. CPJ also found that at least 24 journalists were killed in 2021 because of their coverage. Eighteen more died in circumstances too murky to determine whether they were specifically targeted for their journalism. In tandem with expert partners, brave journalists, and allied public officials, we are pushing the boundaries of change for a free and fearless media.

Our #FreeThePress campaign, which is ever more vital, will be revamped in 2022 to push for a stop to these jailings. You can preview the Legal Network for Journalists at Risk website [Archive.org snapshot, 2021-12-16], launching fully early next year [2022?] to protect independent media from the lethal blows that deplete news organizations' finances and stymie critical reporting.

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"Every day I live with the real threat of spending the rest of my life in jail just because I'm a journalist." On 2021-12-10 Maria Ressa, the CEO of Rappler and the joint winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, warned of increasing risks to her profession. Maria Ressa herself faces charges in her native Philippines that would add up to 100 years in prison. An annual survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based advocacy group, confirms her fears: the number of journalists incarcerated is at a record high.

On 2021-12-01 the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) counted 293 reporters in prison or otherwise detained. As in 2020, China has imprisoned the most - 50 at latest count. Myanmar has surged up the ranking to second place. In 2021-05 a Ryanair flight between Greece and Lithuania was diverted to Belarus in order for Roman Protasevich, a Belarusian journalist, to be detained by authorities there. Such behaviour has led to Belarus joining the top five.

Seventy per cent of reporters serving sentences or in detention in 2021 were charged with anti-state crimes. But 16% have been incarcerated for spreading "false news." Nearly one-seventh faced no charges at all. Autocratic regimes are becoming increasingly intolerant of the press and in a world distracted by COVID-19  [COVID-19 pandemic], repressive governments are taking advantage. In many countries journalists have been prevented from accessing information and had critical reporting restricted. In others they have been arrested for their coverage of COVID-19.

Conflict has given some rulers a chance to crack down. Since the Burmese military  [Myanmar, formerly Burma] toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's government pn 2021-02-01 [2021 Myanmar coup d'état], 26 journalists have been incarcerated; none were in 2020. In Ethiopia, as conflict between government forces and Tigrayan rebels escalated, Abiy Ahmed, the embattled prime minister, imposed harsh emergency laws. The resulting arrests have left Ethiopia the second-worst jailer of journalists in Africa after Eritrea, the continent's gulag state.

Suppression by the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing has spread to Hong Kong, which has appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)'s census for the first time. Following mass protests against Belarus' president, Alexander Lukashenko, his regime's assault on press freedoms has intensified. Belarus now has the highest number of journalists in prison since CPJ started collecting data in 1992. In neighbouring Russia, reporters and media organisations who question President Vladimir Putin's increasingly repressive regime can now be branded as "foreign agents".

Autocrats are also looking beyond traditional media. In Rwanda six of seven imprisoned journalists share their reporting primarily on YouTube. Governments also use social media to monitor journalists. Disinformation peddled on social-media platforms is often shared by despotic regimes - which at the same time imprison journalists for spreading "fake news". The world's despots are unlikely to become more tolerant of the media soon. So the number of journalists in jail will continue to rise.

A British court ruled Friday [2021-12-10] that WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States to face charges of violating the Espionage Act of 1917, a decision that rights groups say poses a profound threat to global press freedoms. "How can it be fair, how can it be right ... to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?" "This is an utterly shameful development that has alarming implications not only for Julian Assange's mental health, but also for journalism and press freedom around the world," Rebecca Vincent, director of international campaigns for Reporters Without Borders, said in response to the ruling.

The decision, which Julian Assange's legal team is expected to appeal, overturns an earlier ruling by Judge Vanessa Baraitser of the Westminster Magistrates' Court,  who argued in 2021-01 that extradition would endanger the WikiLeaks founder's life. "We will appeal this decision at the earliest possible moment," Stella Moris, Assange's fiancée, said in a statement. "How can it be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?"

The Biden administration has thus far ignored pressure from human rights groups to drop the charges against Julian Assange, which stem from Assange's publication of classified information that exposed U.S. war crimes. The Espionage Act of 1917 charges were filed during the tenure of former President Donald Trump, whose administration reportedly considered assassinating or kidnapping Assange, who has been detained in a high-security London prison since 2019.

"Julian's life is once more under grave threat, and so is the right of journalists to publish material that governments and corporations find inconvenient," Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, said Friday [2021-12-10]. "This is about the right of a free press to publish without being threatened by a bullying superpower."

The British court's ruling in favor of Julian Assange's extradition came on the final day of the U.S.-hosted "Summit for Democracy" - an irony that was not lost on critics. "Biden's administration cannot reasonably claim to support principles of democracy and human rights while at the same time seeking the extradition of a publisher, Julian Assange, which is opposed by global press freedom organizations," Shadowproof's  Kevin Gosztola   argued in response to the decision.

Christophe Deloire  [local copy] - executive director of Reporters Without Borders - warned that the British court's ruling could "prove historic for all the wrong reasons." "We defend this case because of its dangerous implications for the future of press freedom around the world," said Deloire. "It is time to put a stop to this more than decade-long persecution once and for all. It is time to free Assange."

Key Findings

• The New York Times journalist Ben Hubbard was repeatedly targeted with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware over a three-year period from June 2018 to June 2021. The targeting took place while Hubbard was reporting on Saudi Arabia, and writing a book about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

• The targeting resulted in Pegasus infections in July 2020 and June 2021. Notably, these infections occurred after Hubbard complained to NSO Group that Ben Hubbard was targeted by the Saudi-linked kingdom's Pegasus operator in June 2018.

• While we attribute the 2020 and 2021 infections to NSO Group's Pegasus spyware with high confidence, we are not conclusively attributing this activity to a specific NSO Group customer at this time. However, we believe that the operator responsible for the 2021 hack is also responsible for the hacking of a Saudi activist in 2021.

• Some forensic artifacts that we connect to NSO Group are present on Hubbard's device as early as April 2018, although we are unable to confirm whether this represents a genuine infection attempt or a feasibility test.

• A phone number belonging to Hubbard also reportedly appeared on the Pegasus Project list in July 2019. Unfortunately, forensic evidence is not available for this timeframe.

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