(TibetanReview.net, Jan26’27) – For the third consecutive year in 2025, China jailed more journalists than any other country, retaining the dubious distinction of being “the world’s worst jailer of journalists”, according to the latest annual report of an international watchdog released Jan 21.
The group, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), stated that the Communist Party of China-state locked up 50 reporters last year—an all-time high among the countries that the New York-based group with correspondents around the world tracks. Myanmar’s military regime is the second with 30 jailed journalists. Israel, a democratic country, was the third with a record of 29 because of its imprisonment of Palestinian journalists following the start of the Israel-Gaza war in Oct 2023.
The CPJ report said that across the world, at least 330 journalists were jailed as of Dec 2025, down slightly from the record high of 384 reported the year before. China was not only the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2025 but it also routinely tops CPJ’s prison census,
The report – titled as “2025 journalist jailings remain stubbornly high; harsh prison conditions pervasive” – said many of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, such as Turkey, China, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Myanmar, are nations that consistently view political opposition — and coverage of that opposition — as a threat to be silenced. Journalists in these countries have been jailed on accusations including terrorism, espionage, and cooperating with exiled media.
Data gathered by the CPJ show that in the case of China, at least 34 journalists were jailed last year for vaguely worded and broad charges, including “subversion of state power” and “inciting subversion”.
The CPJ report was released on the day EU lawmakers pushed to impose sanctions on Hong Kong officials responsible for eliminating the city’s freedom and human rights. Seven of the 50 arrested Chinese journalists are imprisoned in Hong Kong.
These included Jimmy Lai, a British citizen and Hong Kong tycoon best known for his banned publication Apple Daily, for simply expressing his thoughts by saying, “Take what we have voted on and transfer it to the Council,” German member of the European Parliament (MEP) Engin Eroglu has said in a theepochtimes.com report Jan 25. He could be sentenced for life in the ongoing state security trial.