China

China ranks 178th out of 180 in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), scoring around 14.80—classified as “very serious” and among the bottom three nations, alongside North Korea and Eritrea. It remains the world’s largest jailer of journalists, with RSF reporting 121 detained (including Hong Kong) as of late 2025, IFJ citing 143, and CPJ noting 50.

Physical violence and killings are rare: no journalists were killed in China in 2025 or early 2026 due to their work, per RSF, CPJ, IFJ, and UNESCO data (none among global tallies of 128-129 deaths in 2025, focused on conflict zones like Gaza).

Repression centers on detention, enforced disappearances, torture in custody, harsh prison conditions, espionage/anti-state charges, and total media control via state ownership, censorship, and propaganda. Independent reporting is underground or exiled; threats of arrest force self-censorship. This systemic crackdown erodes truth-telling in the world’s most populous nation.