New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has published its census of prisoners for the year 2025 on January 21, 2025. They stated that more than 300 journalists were imprisoned worldwide and China was the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2025 with 50 held in 2025.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an independent, non-profit organisation based in New York, United States. It advocates for press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to work in safety. The CPJ monitors attacks on journalists, provides emergency assistance and denounces injustices suffered by reporters.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published its annual census of prisoners for the year 2025 on January 21, 2025. According to the CPJ's annual census, for the fifth consecutive year, more than 300 journalists were imprisoned worldwide at the end of 2025.
CPJ census states, "Of the 330 imprisoned journalists worldwide, nearly half (162) remain in detention with sentences pending. 26% of those journalists have languished in jail for five years or longer. Among those journalists who have been sentenced, nearly three-quarters (121) face terms of five years or longer, including 60 journalists serving 5-10 years, 52 facing more than a decade, eight with life sentences, and one on death row."
"While 2025 has seen a slight reduction in jailed journalists, down from a record 384 in 2024, the numbers remain stubbornly high. It has been more than a decade since fewer than 200 journalists were jailed," it added.
"China’s status as the world’s worst jailer of journalists, with 50 held in 2025, has now extended to three years consecutively. Myanmar, with 30 held, rose to the second worst from third in 2024, and Israel, with 29 imprisoned, dropped to the third worst jailer from the second in 2024. Azerbaijan, which imprisoned 24, joined the top ten for the first time since 2018, nearly doubling its number of prisoners from the prior year in a months-long crackdown on the independent press. Numbers imprisoned in Russia, Myanmar, Belarus, Egypt, and Eritrea were similar to those in the past five years," CPJ stated.
“Persecuting journalists is a means of silencing them. That has profound implications for us as individuals and for society as a whole. Corruption goes unchecked, abuse of power is allowed to flourish, and we are all at greater risk as a result," CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said.
"Many of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, such as Turkey, China, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Myanmar, are nations that consistently view political opposition — and coverage of that opposition — as a threat to be silenced. Journalists in these countries have been jailed on accusations including terrorism, espionage, and cooperating with exiled media. Election protests and coverage of opposition parties have also triggered arrests in repressive countries," the CPJ census stated.
CPJ report stated that China held at least 50 journalists in prison as of December 1, 2025, including seven in Hong Kong. Data indicates a trend of using anti-state charges to target journalists, with at least 34 behind bars for vague and overly broad crimes such as “subversion of state power” and “inciting subversion.”
For years, China has been the country that arrests the largest number of journalists, peaceful protesters and innocent Tibetans. The Chinese government arrested and imprisoned more than 100 Tibetans in 2025, including those who reported on the critical situation in Tibet to Tibetans in exile, those who celebrated the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and those who peacefully protested against illegal and destructive mining activities in Tibet.
