WASHINGTON: Two major media advocacy groups Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders announced on Monday that in 2016 the trend to jail or kidnap journalists had reached a record high.

CPJ said that this year as many as 259 journalists were in jails around the world, the highest in decades.

Reporters Without Borders, 1(nown by its French acronym RSF, reported that 348journalistsweredetained worldwide, including those arrested by governments, held hostage or were missing.

`This trend is rising dramatically,` RSF said, reportinga sixpercentincreasein worldwide detentions. The number of detained professional journalists in Turkey has risen 22pc af ter quadrupling in the wake of the failed coup d`état in July.