220 Journalists Are Imprisoned Worldwide, The Second Worst Number On Record: CPJ

According to an annual report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), fully 220 members of the press are currently imprisoned around the world.

The second-largest figure since CPJ began recording in 1990 -- up 9 journalists from 2013 -- falls shy of the record high, which hit 232 in 2012.

In 2014, China put more journalists behind bars than any other nation -- 44 to be exact -- following a major crackdown on press freedom after the election of President Xi Jinping.

Iran locked up 30 members of the press, and Syria, Egypt, Burma, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Vietnam also made the list of top jailers of press around the world, according to CPJ's report.

See the full report on CPJ's website.

"We may live in the information age, but those who bring us the news are being jailed in record numbers," CPJ executive director Joel Simon said. "From China to Iran and from Egypt to Burma, hopes for reform have been dashed as authoritarian governments suppress critical speech at a terrible cost to journalists."

Earlier this year, the CPJ called the last two years "absolutely atrocious" for media freedom. On Monday, Reporters Without Borders calculated that 66 journalists were killed worldwide in 2014. And while that number is down 7 percent from 2013, the very nature of those killings -- horrific beheadings captured on video, deaths being shared across social media -- may mark the worst in recent memory.