This sort of unthinking, reflexive cynical glibness encourages the public indifference that allows things like this to happen:

> The numbers are staggering. Arrests of journalists skyrocketed by more than 1200% in comparison to 2019.

This is in fact new.

Even as someone who is generally sympathetic to reports like this I don't think 2019 is a useful comparison. What are the numbers compared to other years with mass protests and/or riots (ex. 2016)? Is this a number that scales with the number and size of large events or was 2020 truly an outlier regardless?