Members of the fourth estate. [Photo: Kenyans.co.ke]Over 262 journalists were behind bars by December 1, a report by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) documents.Of those jailed, 193 work online whereas 110 are print journalists. The report lists Turkey, China, and Egypt as countries that lead the park with the highest number of its newsmen behind bars."The worst three jailers are responsible for jailing 134 or 51 percent of the total," the report says as quoted by the Star on Friday.CPJ Executive Director, Joel Simon said: “In a just society, no journalist should ever be imprisoned for their work and reporting critically, but 262 are paying that price."The Committee faults the US and other Western powers for failing to pressures worlds worst jailers into improving what it terms 'bleak climate for press freedom'.The 262 journalists behind bars is an increase from last year's 259. Turkey leads the pack with 73 journalists in prison, followed by China with 41 and Egypt has imprisoned 20 journalists.“It is shameful that for the second year in a row, a record number of journalists are behind bars. Countries that jail journalists for what they publish is violating international law and must be held accountable. The fact that repressive governments are not paying a price for throwing journalists in jail represents a failure of the international community,” Simon added.The committee shows that 194 journalists, or 74 percent, are imprisoned on anti-state charges, many under broad or vague terror laws.

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