Police arrested more than 117 journalists in the US in 2020
At least 117 journalists were arrested in the United States in 2020, setting a new record for arrests of journalists by a significant margin, according to a report released this week by the Freedom of the Press Foundation based on data compiled by the US Press Freedom Tracker. The number is expected to rise as more than a dozen cases are still under investigation.
From 2017 to 2019, 68 journalists were arrested: nine in 2019, 11 in 2018 and 48 in 2017. This year, in the week from May 29 to June 4 alone, more arrests of journalists were carried out than in these three years combined.
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Sputnik International
December 14, 2020
Today, Freedom of the Press Foundation is releasing a report on the unprecedented number of journalists arrested in the United States this year.
Based on the comprehensive data compiled by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of Freedom of the Press Foundation and Committee to Protect Journalists, our new report shows that there have been at least 117 verified cases of a journalist being arrested or detained on the job in the United States in 2020. The Tracker is also still investigating more than a dozen additional reports of arrests or detentions.
The numbers are staggering. Arrests of journalists skyrocketed by more than 1200% in comparison to 2019. In just one week, from May 29 - June 4, more reporters were arrested in the U.S. than in the previous three years
As governments clamped down on news coverage of civil unrest and the coronavirus pandemic, the latest census by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) shows a record number of journalists were imprisoned because of their work in 2020. A separate report, by the CPJ and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, found that 120 journalists have been detained while covering protests in the US.
As of 1 December 2020, at least 394 journalists had been arrested in the US, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The US, China, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia led in the number of arrests.
Protests and political tensions were a catalyst for many arrests. The CJP reports that two countries with significant increases in jailed journalists were Ethiopia, where unrest has deteriorated into armed conflict, and Belarus, where journalists were detained while covering protests against the election victory of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Editorial
Press freedom can t be taken for granted
Attention Monday centered on the Electoral College and the end of a long, contentious election season. Today we celebrate another of our constitutional foundations, observing the 229th anniversary of ratification of the Bill of Rights.
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution represented a compromise that seems unimaginable today, yet leaders on both sides of the political spectrum surely can agree the individual liberties enumerated by members of the first Congress have proven invaluable over the past two centuries-plus.
The first article of the Bill of Rights, the cornerstone of our press liberty, is particularly important to journalists and the work we do. The past year has delivered the same severe financial challenges confronting most other businesses, but it also has revealed threats to our work as a check on government. Some examples: