Editorial: Journos' jailing chilling

Journalists overseas are facing jail time and court sentences.

In a quirk of timing journalists in Egypt and England have come before the courts this week under the eye of their colleagues of the world press.

Their cases, however, couldn't be further apart.

Three journalists from Al Jazeera's English-language service were jailed for at least seven years on charges of spreading false news and supporting the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

It's an extreme case of "If you're not with us, you're against us", something we as journalists see often, of course on a much smaller scale. It's something anyone can see, especially in an election year, when the politically aligned bullies of social media attack not only those who dare to hold an opposing opinion, but those who won't openly agree with them, whether they have an opinion or not.

Amnesty International has called the journalists' conviction in Egypt "a ferocious attack on media freedom".

The country was last year listed among the 10 worst jailers of journalists by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

It's a reminder to not take for granted media freedom in New Zealand, which ranks ninth on the Press Freedom Index (Egypt is 159th).

Meanwhile in England, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was this week convicted of plotting to hack phones and faces jail.

There was probably more than a touch of schadenfreude over the scandal. An industry, that in Britain at least, had sensationally splashed others' scandals and misfortunes across front pages was itself the subject of stories about sleaze and wrongdoing.

Coulson's crime not only led to the closure of one of the world's biggest selling newspapers, but seriously damaged the public's faith in journalists and journalism worldwide.

So while three journalists are going to jail for doing their job, another faces jail for not only not doing his job properly, but for actively doing it the wrong way.