There’s a worrying rise in journalists being arrested for ‘fake news’ around the worldAs 2019 draws to a close, there are 30 journalists in jail worldwide on charges of “false news” — or, as it’s also called these days, “fake news.”

It has now become commonplace to throw around fake-news accusations in the United States. But in other countries around the world — like Egypt, Turkey, Somalia and Cameroon — such charges can have very chilling and stifling impacts on the press, according to an annual report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

In Egypt — where General-turned-President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi has been overseeing a crackdown that human rights groups say is harsher than any before — there are 21 journalists in jail for allegedly publishing “false news,” according to the CPJ’s data. In practice, press freedom advocates say, these charges stem from a simple fact: The journalists published news that Sisi didn’t like.

 

Egypt expands its crackdown to target foreigners, journalists and even children

In Cameroon, where English-speaking separatists are fighting for independence from the mainly French-speaking government, five journalists are in jail on these charges. Many more have been detained on similar grounds for their reports on the conflict.After an American was killed in Cameroon’s growing civil conflict, the government charged journalist Mimi Mefo Takambou with publishing fake news on the story. (Video: Joyce Lee, Siobhan O’Grady/The Washington Post)