The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that a rise in the usage of the internet for reporting news, has played a factor in creating a rise in the amount of reporters being jailed in countries like China And Cuba. The overall number of journalists jailed has increased for the second consecutive year. And “and one in three is now an Internet blogger, online editor, or Web-based reporter, according to an analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists.”
(img source http://www.cpj.org/attacks06/pages06/year-net-graph.gif)
Internet journalism, along with web based tools allow dissidents to spread a message extremely quickly, and to organize groups in a very low cost way. Totalitarian states are seeing the internet journalism and political organizing as a huge threat to hegemonic power. CPJ also reports that China is attempting to overcome the notion and challenge that the internet cannot be controlled or sensored. If China is successful, the technologies and techniques they use will likeley be emulated world wide.