It’s a bad life in China as a journalist unless you parrot the Chinese communist party’s propaganda. “China is the world’s largest jailer of journalists, with more than 100 currently detained," as the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced last week when they released 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

China ranked 172nd among 180 countries and regions. Compared with Chiba’s 2023 ranking of 179th—second last place—China’s ranking has increased only because of the deterioration of situations in other countries, such as in the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, rather than any improvement in China.

RSF’s report also said that “in addition to detaining more journalists than any other country in the world,” the Chinese communist regime “continues to exercise strict control over information channels, implementing censorship and surveillance policies to regulate online content and restrict the spread of information deemed to be sensitive or contrary to the party line.”