Half of Jailed Journalists are Freelancers -- And Half Work Online

Slate, our totally favorite website, where we all desperately want to work some day, looks at the annual statement by the good people at the Committee To Protect Journalists, who report today that 46% of journalists in jail are freelancers-and half of them work online: “A decade ago, when China first topped the list, most of those jailed were print reporters for mainstream media outlets who had gone too far in their criticism of government officials… But online journalists can’t be fired, blacklisted, or, in most cases, bought off precisely because most work independently. They don’t have employers who can be pressured. Chinese authorities have few options when it comes to reining in online critics-censor them, intimidate them, or throw them in jail. This explains why 18 of the 24 journalists imprisoned in China worked online.”