Committee to Protect Journalists

For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers--Turkey, China, and Egypt--into improving the bleak climate for press freedom.

[Commentary] [P]revious US presidents have been able to exert their influence around the world on behalf of press freedom, however inconsistently. The issue is not partisan, either. The Obama administration raised concerns about press freedom abuses in Egypt, Ethiopia, Turkey, China, and Vietnam; former President George W. Bush told the Today Show that he raised the issue with Russia President Vladimir Putin. Sadly, President Donald Trump has expressed no such interest in protecting this framework or setting a positive example.

In fact, while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania for his 100th day in office, Trump said the media was a "disgrace" and that members of the press were "incompetent, dishonest people." These comments are even more alarming for being part of a broader trend. Among former regional leaders such as Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, and Kenya, press freedom has deteriorated. Still, because he is the president of the United States, Trump's comments are different. As the award-winning Salvadoran reporter Óscar Martínez put it, "Trump inhabits the global showcase. In attacking the US press, he attacks all of the press and puts it at risk."

In July 2013, veteran Chinese journalist Liu Jianfeng posted an announcement on the Chinese microblog Weibo confirming his intention to become an independent investigator and writer. In a country where all media remains state-owned, Liu’s plan was a bold one. He promised to produce four to six independent, investigative stories in the coming year, and to fund his costs by crowdsourcing. His financial target was 250,000 yuan (about US$40,000). “I would like to be an independent writer and social issue observer. With the help of supporters, I will be able to conduct investigations and to reveal the problems during political reforms, and to tell people’s stories during social changes,” Liu said in his July post. Liu’s move was bold, not just because he had given up the benefits and security of working for traditional media, but also because of his outspokenness about wanting to leave behind the Chinese government’s censorship and constraints, which he had spoken about in a recent video for the Committee to Protect Journalists.