Trump's Love of Dictators Tied to Rise in Media Jailing
Source: Newsweek Magazine
DONALD TRUMP’S LOVE OF DICTATORS AND HATRED OF MEDIA LEADS TO RISE IN JOURNALISTS JAILED
BY LINLEY SANDERS ON 12/13/17 AT 9:18 AM
A record number of journalists were imprisoned in 2017, and President Donald Trump's hatred for media and embrace of authoritarian dictators contributed to the rise, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In its annual review, the media rights group discovered 262 journalists currently jailed around the world for their work, an increase from the 259 reporters jailed at the same time in 2016, which itself was a record since the group started collecting data in the early 1990s.
The charge of spreading "false news" as a reason to jail journalists rose to a new record, as well. The organization condemned Trump for enabling the increases by celebrating authoritarian leaders, like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where many journalists remain behind bars in what might accurately—and now metaphorically—be called trumped-up charges.
"Trump’s nationalistic rhetoric, fixation on Islamic extremism and insistence on labeling critical media 'fake news' serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists," the group said in a statement.
Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-love-dictators-hatred-media-leads-rise-journalists-jailed-746621
