More reporters are behind bars than ever before.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said 259 journalists were in jails around the world as of Dec. 1. That's the highest tally since the committee started keeping records in 1990.

The number has risen mainly because of a crackdown on media in Turkey following a military coup attempt in July, the CPJ said.

At least 81 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey facing charges related to their work -- the highest number in any one country at any one time, according to the CPJ. Dozens more journalists are imprisoned in Turkey but the CPJ was unable to confirm a direct link to their work.

"Every day that Turkey's journalists languish in jail in violation of that country's own laws, Turkey's standing in the world is diminished," said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

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In a separate report on Tuesday, Reporters Without Borders said the number of professional journalists detained in Turkey quadrupled following the failed attempt to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"At the gateway to Europe, an all-out witch-hunt has jailed dozens of journalists and has turned Turkey into the world's biggest prison for the media profession," said Christophe Deloire, the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders.

The government had closed down more than 100 media outlets in Turkey in recent months.

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China, which had the most journalists in jail in 2015 and 2014, dropped to second spot. There were 38 behind bars in 2016.

"This, however, should not be interpreted to mean that press freedom in China has improved in the past year," said Yaqiu Wang, an Asia researcher at CPJ.

"On the contrary, China has cracked down on human rights news websites, banned original reporting on the Internet, prevented journalists from traveling, and tightened its grip on Hong Kong media," she added.

China has been named the world's worst jailer of journalists 18 times since 1990.

Egypt, Eritrea, and Ethiopia are third, fourth and fifth worst jailers of journalists, according to the report.</s>At least 259 journalists have been jailed around the world this year, a press advocacy group reported on Monday, the most since it began a detailed annual census of imprisonments in 1990.

The group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, attributed the increase largely to a surge of imprisonments in Turkey after the failed military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July.

At least 81 journalists — almost a third of the total — were incarcerated by the Turkish authorities in relation to their work, the group said in announcing the 2016 figures, “the highest number in any one country at any time.”

Among those imprisoned were Mehmet Baransu, a former columnist and correspondent for the daily newspaper Taraf, who was accused of obtaining secret documents, insulting the president and membership in a terrorist organization. He is facing a maximum sentence of 75 years.</s>PARIS: The number of journalists detained worldwide rose in 2016, an increase related to Turkey where more than 100 journalists and media contributors are in jail, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Tuesday.

“A total of 348 journalists are currently detained worldwide — six percent more than were detained at this time last year,” RSF said in its annual report. The figure includes bloggers and freelance contributors.

“The number of detained professional journalists in Turkey has risen 22 percent after quadrupling in the wake of the failed coup d’etat in July,” it said.

The number of women journalists imprisoned more than quadrupled over the period (from five to 21).

“This reflects in part the growing role of women in journalism but above all the disastrous situation in Turkey, which currently accounts for a third of the world’s detained women journalists,” RSF said.

“The persecution of journalists around the world is growing at a shocking rate,” RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire said in a statement.

“At the gateway to Europe, an all-out witch-hunt has jailed dozens of journalists and has turned Turkey into the world’s biggest prison for the media profession. In the space of a year, the Erdogan regime has crushed all media pluralism while the European Union has said virtually nothing,” he added.

Aside from Turkey, between them China, Iran and Egypt account for more than two-thirds of journalists imprisoned, RSF said, calling for the creation of a special representative for the safety of journalists directly attached to the office of the United Nations secretary general.

The number of journalists held hostage has however fallen this year, with 52, mostly locals, held around the world compared with 61 last year, although RSF said the 2015 number was particularly high.

This year all the hostages are in the Middle East — Syria, Yemen and Iraq — with 21 held by the Islamic State group alone.

RSF said it had identified just one missing journalist in 2016, Burundian Jean Bigirimana, compared with eight last year.

The group considers journalists missing when there is insufficient evidence of their death or kidnapping and no credible claim of responsibility for their death or abduction.

In a separate report released on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that 259 journalists were imprisoned around the world in 2016, 81 of them in Turkey.

Its number is lower because the CPJ only counts journalists detained by the state, while RSF also reports on those held hostage by non-state groups.

The CPJ said the top five countries for jailing journalists are Turkey, followed by China, Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

For the first time since 2008 Iran does not appear in the top five.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports a record 259 journalists, 81 in Turkey, are jailed worldwide as of December 1.