Press freedom in China continues to deteriorate under CCP rule. The Chinese citizen journalists’ situation is especially dire.
As May 3 marked World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
China ranked near the bottom—172nd among 180 countries and regions—while maintaining its title from the previous year as the world’s biggest jailer of journalists.
RSF, the Paris-based international non-governmental organization dedicated to safeguarding freedom of information, said in the report that “in addition to detaining more journalists than any other country in the world,” the Chinese communist regime “continues to exercise strict control over information channels, implementing censorship and surveillance policies to regulate online content and restrict the spread of information deemed to be sensitive or contrary to the party line.”
RSF also pointed out in the report that “China is the world’s largest jailer of journalists, with more than 100 currently detained.”
Compared with last year’s ranking of 179th—second last place—China’s ranking this year has increased. However, the report indicated that the only reason for this slight upward movement in the rankings is the deterioration of situations in other countries and regions, such as in the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, rather than any improvement in China.
The press freedom ranking of Hong Kong—which is controlled by the Chinese regime—this year has also increased slightly, to 135th place, which is higher than its 140th position in 2023. However, its freedom score dropped 1.8 points from last year’s 44.86 “due to an increase in the persecution of journalists under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020,” says the report. RSF explained, “Some countries’ rises in the Index are misleading inasmuch as their scores fell and the Index rises were the result of falls by countries previously above them.”
Over 100 Chinese Writers Jailed
Meanwhile, New York’s PEN America released its Freedom to Write Index 2023.
The report, released on May 1, pointed out that China also remains the world’s leading jailer of writers and public intellectuals. “In 2023, China jumped above 100 cases, jailing 6 writers during the year for a total of 107. Of the total number of writers, 9 are female.”
By Alex Wu
