NEW YORK - THE most common reason used to jail journalists worldwide is to level allegations that they are enemies of the state, committing offences like divulging state secrets.
About 59 per cent of the 125 journalists known to be in jail as of last Monday were imprisoned under these charges - many by the Chinese and Cuban governments, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
However, the CPJ found in its survey that a significant chunk - 13 per cent - faced no formal charge at all.
The CPJ ranked China as having jailed the most journalists, with 28. Beijing has led the standings for 10 years in a row. Cuba, Myanmar, Eritrea and Uzbekistan, in descending order, helped make up the top five jailers, though 29 nations have journalists in prison.
One growing trend is the increase in freelance journalists behind bars.
This is linked to a parallel trend of more online journalists being jailed.
Forty-five of the journalists on CPJ's census are freelancers - and most of them are Web-based.
The number of imprisoned freelancers has risen more than 40 per cent in the last two years, the CPJ survey found. As they are not employed by media companies, they tend not to have the political or legal backing that might help them in a bid for freedom.
"The image of the solitary blogger working at home in pajamas may be appealing, but when the knock comes on the door they are alone and vulnerable", said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.
"All of us must stand up for their rights - from Internet companies to journalists and press freedom groups.
"The future of journalism is online and we are now in a battle with the enemies of press freedom who are using imprisonment to define the limits of public discourse."
Overall, the latest CPJ survey recorded a second consecutive drop in the total number of journalists jailed, though by only two persons.
The last significant hike in the number of journalists jailed was in 2001, after governments rammed through stiff national security legislation after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Incarcerations stood at 81 in 2000 but have since averaged 128 in the annual survey.
