IFJ Press Freedom in China Campaign Bulletin

IFJ Press Freedom in China Campaign Bulletin

June 2010

To IFJ Asia-Pacific affiliates and friends,

Welcome to IFJ Asia-Pacific’s monthly Press Freedom in China Campaign e-bulletin. The next bulletin will be sent on July 8, 2010, and contributions are most welcome.

To contribute news or information, email ifjchina@ifj-asia.org. To visit the IFJ’s China Campaign page, go to www.ifj.org.

Please distribute this bulletin widely among colleagues in the media.

In this bulletin:

1. Editor-in-Chief Demoted for Exposing Faulty Vaccines
2. Magazine Closed for Publishing Government Information
3. Web Registration Threatens Journalists’ Rights
4. Attacks on Journalists Spike in Guangzhou
5. FCCC Report on Assistants Harassed and Intimidated
6. Tiananmen Anniversary Clampdown
7. Latest Media Bans
8. Hong Kong Journalists Obstructed
9. Internet Restored in Xinjiang
10. Journalists Struggle to Report on Hong Kong Reform

1. Editor-in-Chief Demoted After Exposing Faulty Vaccines

The editor-in-chief of China Economic Times, Bao Yueyang, was removed from his position on May 12 for publishing a report exposing the deaths of several children in Shanxi province allegedly due to faulty government-issued vaccines. “Although the Department of Health of Shanxi province strongly denied the spoiled vaccines report, Bao did not retract the report and repeatedly said it reflected the truth. Therefore we believe the Department of Health gave a lot of pressure in order to remove Bao from his position,” a local journalist told the IFJ. Bao has reportedly been moved to a senior position at a small publishing company, while the head of that company, Han Lijun, will replace Bao at China Economic Times. The contentious report, written by investigative journalist Wang Keqin and published on March 17, alleged that faulty storage of vaccines resulted in the deaths of four children and the illness of at least 74 others. China’s Information of Office of the State Council’s Internet Propaganda Administrative Bureau then issued restrictions on reporting of spoiled vaccines.

2. Magazine Closed for Publishing Government Information

Business Watch Magazine was temporarily closed by the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) on May 4 after publishing an article that contained confidential government information. The article, which sourced internal government documents, revealed that the State Grid Corporation of China, controlled by Communist Party Secretary Liu Zhenya, had violated government regulations by exceeding the government-imposed rate of development for state-controlled companies. The magazine was closed from May 5 to 31.

3. Web Registration Threatens Journalists’ Rights

Plans by China’s State Council Information Office to create a registration system for web-users prompted IFJ concerns that the system will limit journalists’ ability to protect confidential sources and report freely. The Minister for the State Council Information Office, Wang Chen, said the system would require netizens and cell-phone users to supply their real names when posting information on the Internet, instead of using “user names” or pseudonyms, according to a report in the state-owned China Daily on May 5. Wang reportedly said the office had been exploring the creation of an identity authentication system for web-users posting to bulletin boards, citing a need to prevent “hostile overseas forces from infiltration via the Internet”. The IFJ called on the State Council Information Office drop the registration system as it would contravene China’s constitutional guarantees to freedom of expression.

4. Attacks on Journalists Spike in Guangzhou

Southern Metropolis Group journalists suffered a series of physical assaults in Guangzhou province over the past month. On May 11, traffic police tried to punch a photographer from the Southern Metropolis, and reportedly confiscated his camera and press card, as he took photos of a road accident in Zhongshan. On May 22, a journalist of Southern Metropolis Web-Television was stopped and slapped in the face by a security guard of the People’s Liberation Army No. 421 Hospital when he attempted to report an accident. On May 23, a journalist was injured while taking photos of a fire at Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech, a company indirectly connected to the provincial government in Luogang Du District. Several security guards reportedly injured the photographer while preventing him from taking pictures. On May 28, seven journalists from Southern Metropolis, Xin Kuai and Information Times were reportedly injured when a group of people, including a businessman pretending to be a Hong Kong journalist, attacked them at the site of a toxic substance leak in Baiyun District. The man pretending to be a journalist was believed to own the factory involved in the leak. The IFJ understands four suspects, including the businessman, were apprehended. It is unclear if charges were laid.

5. FCCC Report on Assistants Harassed and Intimidated

A report by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China revealed more than a third of Chinese assistants working for foreign correspondents, or 37 per cent, had been harassed, pressured or intimidated at least once in the previous year. The information, obtained through a survey by the FCCC in May, found a further 12 percent said this happened three or more times in the same period. Meanwhile, a German television journalist and his Chinese assistant were interrogated and threatened with sacking by Beijing police on May 4 after reporting on plans to demolish a migrant school in Chaoyang District, Beijing, on April 30. Police reportedly demanded the assistant sign a pre-written confession, in which admitted he was following the German journalist’s instructions. The German was asked to sign a document in Chinese which he could not read.

6. Tiananmen Anniversary Clampdown

China’s Internet content filtering system, or the Great Fire Wall, was operating at high intensity during the lead-up to the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, local sources reported. In the past month, no reference to the massacre made it past the filtering system, while online communications devices were under heavy surveillance. Several journalists told the IFJ they had received emails and messages through Skype in the lead-up to the anniversary that contained virus-filled documents from people posing as human rights activists. A Hong Kong journalist said she received a PDF file, allegedly sent via the account of a Tibetan writer, via Skype on May 28. The following day the Tibetan informed contacts that her account had been infiltrated and someone had sent documents via her account. The administrator of a popular United States-based digital data storage (DDS) service also reported being interrogated by a China-based security bureau, which demanded a temporary halt to the service and the deletion of sensitive content on the site related to pro-democracy activities.

7. Latest Media Bans

In the past month, China’s Central Propaganda Department and other government institutions regularly issued orders restricting media work and content.

May 13: The State Council Information Office ordered all online media outlets on the mainland not to post reports relating to bilateral talks between China and US diplomats on the front page of their sites. The order also directed that all content about the talks be “correctly” reported. Local sources said China’s media did not report on the US delegation’s references to China’s human rights reputation, religious freedom and Internet censorship.

May 15: The Central Propaganda Department banned all independent reports on the trial of a suspect charged with mass murder at a kindergarten in Taixing City, Jangsu, on April 29. Orders banning reporting on the killings were also issued shortly after the massacre.

May 20: The Central Propaganda Department ordered all media outlets to use only information from the Foreign Ministry and Xinhua News Agency when reporting on an investigative report about the sinking of a South Korean navy ship on March 26. The report concluded that the ship was attacked by North Korea.

May 31: The Jiangxi propaganda department restricted all online media from republishing a Beijing News article that questioned the use of 200 million yuan by the Hukou County government on a tree-planting scheme. The report said villagers who had signed up for the scheme had complained that the government had not honoured its promises of compensation and re-planting of new trees in exchange for logging of larger trees on their properties.

June 1: Independent reports were banned on a case involving a former civil servant who allegedly killed three judges and seriously injured a policeman in Lingling District, Yongzhou prefecture-level city, Hunan, on June 1. It is unclear whether the ban came from the Central or provincial propaganda departments.

According to the IFJ report China Clings to Control: Press Freedom in 2009, at least 300 orders were issued by China authorities during 2009.

8. Hong Kong Journalists Obstructed

Four Hong Kong journalists were detained by government officials in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, on May 7 while researching a story on corruption related to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, local reports said. The journalists, who were on assignment for Ming Pao and the Hong Kong-based Hong Kong Cable Television station, told the IFJ they were prevented from interviewing residents of Xiang’e village who allege their houses were deliberately demolished by a developer after the earthquake. The journalists were reportedly told by a group of 10 government officials to stop the interviews, on the basis that they did not have the appropriate permit from the Sichuan propaganda department. One journalist told the IFJ that the group, which had been taken to a police station, was not allowed to contact the local propaganda department to obtain the permit. They were forced to delete all footage on their cameras and to sign a letter of penitence before they were released. Many of the interviewees were also reportedly harassed by local police. Meanwhile, participants at a religious event in Hong Kong on May 23 assaulted three Hong Kong photographers and a journalist as they reported on a protest at the venue.

9. Internet Restored in Xinjiang

The government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region announced on May 14 that all online services and access to the Internet in the region had been reinstated. The shutdown had been in force since riots in July 2009, sparked by the death of a factory worker. At the time, many journalists reporting on the riots were unable to use any communications devices, and local authorities discouraged independent reporting. According to an announcement by the region’s security bureau on May 23, police investigated 25 people for allegedly sending “harmful” information via mobile phones. Six of the 25 people were fined or detained after the investigation.

10. Journalists Struggle to Report on Hong Kong Reform

A press conference organised by the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong on May 24 provided some Hong Kong journalists with limited access to three representatives of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong. While the IFJ welcomed the press conference as a step toward greater transparency about the upcoming debate on Hong Kong’s political reform, there are concerns that not all media were allowed to attend. Journalists also faced difficulty in obtaining the itinerary of the office’s Deputy Director, Li Gang, despite repeated requests. They had to rely on state-owned media to obtain information about Li’s itinerary in order to obtain his comments about political negotiations with pro-democrats.

ENDS

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