The freedom of the press is a very important right that we often think is about protecting journalists and our rights to have accurate and complete information. We live in a connected world, but some countries do not want others to know what is happening within their borders. This is a very sad situation because it means that the people who live there could very well be going through all kinds of abuses. This means that freedom of the press is also very much about getting the word out about how peoples are suffering so that the world can respond and create the hype necessary to effect changes that repressive governments would otherwise be unwilling to even consider. Today we look at 10 of the most repressive of these governments and how they are muzzling the media to try and stop them from reporting things as they really are. Our data comes from the April report of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Worst Offenders
North Korea and Eritrea, a country in the horn Africa, top the list of the most authoritarian governments when it comes to media censorship. These governments stalk reporters and throw them in jail to scare them out of doing their jobs, or to intimidate them when they will not cooperate with the news as it is rewritten by the powers that be.
China and Iran are two other top offenders. China is number 1 in the category of throwing journalists in jail. This country is currently holding 44 of them in local prisons. This is no small matter since China’s prisons are some of the worst in the world – the conditions are horrible and rumor has it that jailers often interrogate prisoners using torture methods. Iran is a close contender, carrying the banner for arbitrary detention. They love to go around randomly picking up reporters and holding them indefinitely without real cause for detaining any of them. Again, this is understood as a scare tactic that is meant to keep journalists in line. The government feels that they will tend to behave better if they know that they could get snatched up anytime and subjected to interrogations. They also use this method to force journalists into exile.
Journalism is a Dangerous Profession
All in all, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there are about 200 journalists that we are aware of who are being held in jails all around the world. With so many reporters being thrown in prison without just cause, the job has become a very dangerous one indeed. Particularly within the last 3 years, it has been like walking on thin ice for journalists who work in countries with despotic regimes in power. Aside from the jailings, reporters are also hunted down and assassinated. Others, an estimated 400 in the last 5 years, have been exiled by these governments for their honest and thorough reporting.
Internet Censorship
Censoring the Internet has been a very helpful tool for governments who want to silence the most diligent of journalists. By blocking their access to the World Wide Web, these regimes are able to cut off one of the best avenues that reporters have for getting the word out quickly and making sure that it gets distributed to the widest audience at the same time.
North Korea and Eritrea censor the Internet partly because they know that online outlets provide journalists with a way to get the word out. The government in Eritrea was supposed to provide the people with mobile Internet, but this was cut out because of the Arab Spring movement. This movement has affected Saudi Arabia as well, causing laws to be changed to stop journalists from releasing content that speaks out against Sharia law and what the leadership considers to be disruptive to public order.
In Cuba, another of the top 10 worst countries for the media, journalists and other people who use the Internet to share information have to do it from outside of their homes and offices to get their content published online. Often they rely on the kindness of the embassies of foreign governments who are sympathetic to the freedom of the press. Other times they can use hotel WiFi, which is unfiltered, to discreetly upload their writings and photos. They have also learned to use secure VPN services to protect their identities and those of their sources. They are well aware of the dangers of reporting on the atrocities that they have witnessed and are therefore adept at using tools to prevent detection.
China definitely gets another number 1 ranking for censorship. The country has 642 million Internet users who cannot use many websites like social media sites that the government blocks because they do not conform to its political ideas and agendas. In Azerbaijan, Burma, Ethiopia and Vietnam, the Internet is also filtered and monitored, where it is available.