China Just Overtook Turkey as the World’s Biggest Jailer of Journalists

China has overtaken Turkey for the dubious distinction of being the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, according to a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The New York-based non-profit, which carries out an annual Dec. 1 census of reporters behind bars around the world, found the problem to be at a “near record high,” with at least 250 journalists in jail in relation to their work, compared with 255 a year earlier.

Forty-eight of those jailed journalists are in China in 2019, compared with 47 in Turkey. It’s the first time in the past four years that Turkey hasn’t topped the table.

The report noted that the number of journalists jailed in China had steadily increased as President Xi Jinping “instituted ever tighter controls on the media.” Among the journalists jailed by Beijing were “dozens” held amid the crackdown on the Uyghur ethnic group in Xinjiang — and at least one other who was jailed for having blogged about marching with pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong.

That reporter, freelancer Sophia Huang Xueqin, was arrested in October and charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” common anti-state charges.

Asked about China’s jailing of journalists at a press briefing in Beijing Wednesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was dismissive, saying U.S.-based institutions lacked credibility.

“You should feel lucky that you work in Beijing and not in Washington,” she told the reporters present, according to Reuters.

Turkey has fewer journalists in jail this year than it did last year, when the number was 68. But the CPJ report noted that the drop didn’t reflect an improved situation for the media in Turkey, which has been pursuing a massive crackdown on dissent since a failed coup in 2016. It said dozens of Turkish journalists who weren’t behind bars were still awaiting trial.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt were tied for third, both with 26 journalists behind bars, followed by Eritrea with 16; Vietnam with 12; and Iran with 11.

While most journalists were held on anti-state charges, the report also found the number of cases where journalists faced charges of “fake news” had hit record levels, rising to 30 from 28 last year, said CPJ’s editorial director Elana Beiser.

CPJ has said this rise has taken place amid “heightened global rhetoric” about “fake news,” with U.S. President Donald Trump being the most high-profile adopter of the term.

READ: More journalists are being thrown in jail around the world for ‘fake news’

Earlier this year, Russia and Singapore introduced controversial anti-fake news laws. Moscow’s new laws criminalized the act of spreading what it deemed to be "fake news" and information which "disrespects" the state, prompting criticism from journalists and human rights activists who say the legislation is an authoritarian move to help the government directly censor dissent.

Singapore also passed fake news laws giving authorities sweeping powers to police social media, prompting criticism that the laws are a threat to civil liberties.

Cover: In this Friday, April 17, 2015 file photo, anti-Beijing protesters hold pictures of jailed veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu during a rally outside Chinese central government's liaison office in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)