Countries imprisoning journalists in 2023
Countries with deaths in 2023
Attacks on the Press in 2023
Attacks on journalists’ lives and liberty remained at near record-levels in 2023, with the Committee to Protect Journalists documenting 99 journalists killed worldwide, the highest total since 2015. CPJ also documented 320 journalists imprisoned for their work as of the December 1 date of its annual prison census — near the global all-time high of more than 360 a year earlier.
Israel made a rapid ascent on the 2023 list, becoming the source for over 75% of journalist killings, and rising to the sixth-worst jailer of journalists after the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
Interactive map by Geoff McGhee for CPJ
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Attacks on journalists’ lives and liberty remained at near record-levels in 2023, with the Committee to Protect Journalists documenting 99 journalists killed worldwide, the highest total since 2015. CPJ also documented 320 journalists imprisoned for their work as of the December 1 date of its annual prison census — near the global all-time high of more than 360 a year earlier.
Israel made a rapid ascent on the 2023 list, becoming the source for over 75% of journalist killings, and rising to the sixth-worst jailer of journalists after the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7.
Interactive map by Geoff McGhee for CPJ
Scroll to continue
Journalists killed in 2023
At least 78 journalists and media workers were killed in direct connection with their work, and CPJ is investigating the motives for the killings of eight others to determine whether they were work-related. Of the global total of 99 killings, 77 occurred in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Lebanon – the Israel-Gaza war zone – and 72 of those killings were Palestinian journalists and media workers.
Outside the deaths in the Israel-Gaza war, killings dropped markedly compared to 2022, from 69 to 22 deaths. But this declining number is not an indication that journalism has become safer in other parts of the world. Indeed, CPJ’s annual prison census found that 2023 jailings of journalists – another key indicator of conditions for journalists and press freedom – remain close to record highs established in 2022. Read about our methodology
The Israel-Gaza war
More than three-quarters of 2023’s deaths took place during the Israel-Gaza war–in a span of only three months. This toll is unprecedented in its intensity, according to CPJ data.
The Israel-Gaza war
More than three-quarters of 2023’s deaths took place during the Israel-Gaza war–in a span of only three months. This toll is unprecedented in its intensity, according to CPJ data.
Deaths by country
Click on country names in the list to learn about journalists who were killed there in 2023.
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Journalists imprisoned in 2023
The year’s top five jailers of journalists are China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and Vietnam, respectively. More than 65% of imprisoned journalists in the census face anti-state charges, such as false news and terrorism, in retaliation for their work. Many in the census are jailed without being told of charges against them, and often face cruel and dangerous prison conditions.
This map shows the countries imprisoning journalists in 2023.
Journalists imprisoned in 2023
The year’s top five jailers of journalists are China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and Vietnam, respectively. More than 65% of imprisoned journalists in the census face anti-state charges, such as false news and terrorism, in retaliation for their work. Many in the census are jailed without being told of charges against them, and often face cruel and dangerous prison conditions.
This map shows the countries imprisoning journalists in 2023.
Read about our methodologyImprisonments by country
Click on countries in the list at left to see journalists imprisoned in 2023.
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Imprisonments by country
Click on countries in the list below to see journalists imprisoned in 2023.
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China – #1 in 2023
China has been a top jailer of journalists for many years. Its tight censorship of the media and high rates of imprisoning those who speak out make it especially difficult to assess the exact number of journalists in its prisons. Inmates are sent to political re-education camps or simply kept in prison after sentences end. China’s intolerance for independent reporting, along with similar repression in neighboring countries, has made Asia the region with the highest number of jailed journalists–115 of the global total of 320.
Myanmar – #2 in 2023
Myanmar catapulted into CPJ’s census rankings as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, when a February military coup ousted the country’s elected government and cracked down on coverage of the new regime. The number of jailed journalists has been on the rise since then, from 30 in 2021, to 42 in 2022, and now, to 43, as the regime continues to arrest journalists, shutter news outlets and force members of the media into exile.
Belarus – #3 in 2023
Belarus held 28 journalists in custody on December 1 – up from 26 last year, and 19 in 2021. The majority face anti-state charges, with almost half serving sentences of five years or more. Belarus uses “extremism” laws as a weapon to jail journalists, with five of seven new Belarus prisoners in the census accused of some form of extremism. Arrests in recent years have taken place against the backdrop of President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s ongoing vindictiveness against those covering the aftermath of his disputed 2020 election.
Russia – #4 in 2023
As it has intensified efforts to stifle free reporting, Russia has moved into the top five worst jailers of journalists in 2023. With the country’s independent media gutted following its full scale February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is continuing efforts to criminalize journalism beyond its borders by issuing arrest warrants and prison sentences for prominent journalists working in exile. Russia also holds a disproportionate number of foreign reporters in its jails. Twelve of the census’ global total of 17 non-local imprisoned journalists are held by Russia.
Vietnam — #5 in 2023
Vietnam continues to impose harsh sentences, and harsh prison conditions, on journalists, many of whom are convicted for what the government claims are anti-state crimes. CPJ research found journalists in Vietnamese prisons have been denied necessities such as food, electricity and medical care.
Methodology
Imprisonments
CPJ’s annual prison census accounts only for journalists in government custody and does not include those who have disappeared or are held captive by non-state actors. These cases are classified as “missing” or “abducted.”
CPJ’s list is a snapshot of those incarcerated at 12:01 a.m. on December 1, 2023. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year. CPJ includes only those journalists who it has confirmed have been imprisoned in relation to their work. Journalists remain on CPJ’s list until the organization determines with reasonable certainty that they have been released or have died in custody.
Killings
CPJ began compiling detailed records on all journalist deaths in 1992. CPJ staff members independently investigate and verify the circumstances behind each death. CPJ considers a case work-related only when its staff is reasonably certain that a journalist was killed in direct reprisal for his or her work; in combat-related crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment such as covering a protest that turns violent.
If the motives in a killing are unclear, but it is possible that a journalist died in relation to his or her work, CPJ classifies the case as “unconfirmed” and continues to investigate.
CPJ’s list does not include journalists who died of illness or were killed in car or plane accidents unless the crash was caused by hostile action. Other press organizations using different criteria cite different numbers of deaths.
CPJ’s database of journalists killed in 2022 includes capsule reports on each victim and filters for examining trends in the data. CPJ maintains a database of all journalists killed since 1992 and those who have gone missing or are imprisoned for their work.
A note on the map
The map reflects that CPJ holds Russian authorities responsible for press freedom violations in Ukraine’s Crimea after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula led to de facto control of its media sphere.
