Number of Jailed Journalists Remains High

361 journalists were imprisoned as a result of their work as of December 1, 2024, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). This number was the second highest on record since the CPJ started collecting this data in 1992, following only after 2022 when at least 369 journalists were incarcerated. These figures do not include those who were jailed and released throughout the year.

At the end of 2024, China had the largest number of journalists held behind bars (50). This is likely a low estimate, according to a CPJ report, since censorship makes it difficult to determine the exact number of imprisoned journalists. The next top jailers of journalists were Israel (43), Myanmar (35), Belarus (31) and Russia (30). Together, these five countries accounted for more than half of the global total of imprisoned journalists (53 percent), as of the day of the census.