IFJ Press Freedom in China Campaign Bulletin

IFJ Press Freedom in China Campaign Bulletin

April 8, 2012

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 May 8, 2012, and contributions are most welcome.

To contribute news or information, email ifj@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.

1. Allegations of Interference in Hong Kong Political Reporting
2. Mainland China Journalists Injured
3. Communist Party of China Urged to Respect Constitutional Freedoms
4. Increased Media Restrictions Accompany National People’s Congress
5. Slight Easing of Internet Firewalls
6. New Wave of Crackdowns Following Bo Xilai Scandal
7. Tibetan Writer Forbidden from Leaving Beijing
8. Hong Kong’s Anti-Stalking Laws Fail to Exempt Media
9. Hong Kong Police Continue to Disrespect Media Rights

1) Allegations of Interference in Hong Kong Political Reporting

Press freedom in Hong Kong has reached a critical juncture. During the election campaign for the Hong Kong Chief Executive, a number of reports suggested that Hao Tiechuan, Director of the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong, the agent for the Mainland Central Government in the territory, had seriously interfered with the reporting of the elections. The Hong Kong Economic Journal owner Richard Li Rzar-Kai was reportedly approached by Hao who left a message to chastise the newspaper for its perceived negative coverage of the Chinese Liaison Office and Leung Chun-Ying who will now become the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

Another newspaper, Sing Pao, was also the site of press freedom violations. An article by a well-known commentator, YS Lau, who has a column in Sing Pao, was altered. Lau said three aspects of his column had been altered by the newspaper – namely those which expressed his refusal to support any of the candidates. The Editor-in-Chief, Ngai Kai-kwong, blamed the editor in charge of the article, arguing that the changes were made in order to bring it in line with the newspaper's overall position for the day. However, a journalist who is close to the source told the IFJ that Ngai was the one who made the changes to the article after being dissatisfied with changes made by the original editor in charge. Miriam Lau Kin-yee, the chairwoman of the Beijing-leaning Liberal Party, also accused Sing Pao of choosing sides because her article was suddenly pulled and replaced by an article in support of Leung.

The Hong Kong media has been challenged over its reporting of the Hong Kong Chief Executive election. According to a survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, more than 30% of the public do not trust the media’s reporting of the elections. The survey, conducted between March 12 and March 20, found that only 10% of the 2,733 interviewees felt Hong Kong’s media practised balanced reporting.

http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/mainland-interference-in-political-reporting-alleged-in-hong-kong

2) Mainland China Journalists Injured

On March 27, four Mainland journalists were badly injured by a gang that allegedly included Niu Hao, Deputy Minister of Housing Department of Shaoling District, Luohe Prefecture-City, Henan Province, when they attempted to report on an illegal property development. The injured journalists included Zhou Dazeng, a reporter of Luohe Television Station, Guo Cungen of People’s Online and a China Economic Times reporter with the surname Geng. Another of the journalists, Yuan Yuqing, a magazine editor of Life in the Party, claimed that Niu threatened him with a gun, seeking to pressure him into disclosing the sources of information.

On 8 April, 2012, Xinhua News Agency reported that police had detained Niu after the incident and charged him with false imprisonment. The allegation that a gun was used remains under investigation.

3) Communist Party of China Urged to Respect Constitutional Freedoms

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urged the Communist Party of China (CPC) to lift the restrictive order attempting to prevent a retired professor from exercising his constitutional rights of freedom of speech. Du Guang, 83, a CPC member and retired professor of the Central Committee of the CPC’s Party School, had intended to publish his new book ‘Getting Back to Democracy’ in Hong Kong on March 1. However, on the eve of the publication, Chen Baosheng, the Vice Principal and Party Secretary of the Central Party School, backed by senior Communist Party leaders, ordered that the publication be stopped. Bao Pu, publisher of the book, told IFJ that the publication of the book was halted due to an allegation contained within the book that senior party leader and member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee, Wu Bang Guo, had misunderstood the original ideals of the Party. In the book, Du blames Wu for leading China towards a one-party dictatorship rather than a democracy. “Du has received a lot of pressure from senior members of the Party and has been warned not to accept any interviews from the media”, Bao said.

The IFJ urged China’s Vice-President and the Principal of the Party School, Xi Jinping, to investigate this incident of the infringement of press freedom ,and take steps to ensure members of the CCP at all levels respect the rights enshrined in the country’s Constitution.

http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/communist-party-of-china-urged-to-respect-constitutional-freedoms

4) Increased Media Restrictions Accompany National People’s Congress

During China’s two recent significant national meetings, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, both held in Beijing in March, restrictive orders were issued by the Central Propaganda Department to all media outlets. According to a report by China Digital Times, all media outlets were forbidden from reporting on any appeals made to the Central Government or any ‘spontaneous incidences’. Furthermore, the media was not allowed to report or comment on the Hong Kong Chief Executive election unless those reports had first been approved and censored by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.

On March 14, Premier Wen Jiabao held a press conference, however, media outlets were warned to only republish those articles produced by the Xinhua News Agency, China’s official media agency. With regard to the sensitive incident related to Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun, the State Information Centre demanded all website operators strictly control the posting of messages and comments. All websites were able only to republish reports from official publications Xinhua or China Daily.

Since assuming control of China, the Chinese Communist Party has maintained a core policy of controlling the media, with many public servants now believing that the media should be a propaganda tool of the party. On March 24, Wen Yongdong, a public officer of an institute under the control of Guiyang Government, the capital city of Guizhou, scolded a journalist of Guizhou Television who had questioned him regarding a public accident in the city. Wen said, “you are a journalist. You are the mouthpiece of the Party. Are you working for the people?”

5) Slight Easing of Internet Firewalls

The ‘Great Firewall of China’ - the nickname for China’s rigid system of internet censorship – saw a slight easing for a few days following Premier Wen Jiabao’s publicly repeated references to the Government’s need for political reform, lest China suffer another Cultural Revolution.

A number of bloggers and overseas media reported that they were able to access information online about the June 4th 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, including being able to search the names of some key persons and organizations involved in the Massacre on Baidu, China’s most popular search engine. Although netizens were able to see the pages listed on Baidu, very few of them were able to actually open those pages. The reason for this slight easing of the firewall is still unknown.

Another appealing incident was the apparent decision to allow the previously restricted movie “The Life of Wu Xun” to be sold in the digital disc format. This film was produced in the 1950s and became one of the most popular movies of that period of time. However it was banned from public airing by former President Mao Zedong, who criticized the movie as “anti-revolutionary”. Members of the film’s production received different degrees of political retaliation shortly afterwards.

6) New Wave of Crackdowns Following Bo Xilai Scandal

Since the political scandal of Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun in Chongqing was disclosed in early February, media attention has focused on the pair. On March 8, the National Congress members for Chongqing, including Bo Xilai, suddenly arranged a meeting and invited the media to attend. However, very few of journalists were able to attend the meeting because they were not registered. Many journalists complained that they were not aware that any registration system was needed. All of those Mainland journalists who were allowed to enter the room were warned not to raise any sensitive questions about Bo and Wang.

A new wave of crackdowns took place after Bo and Wang were removed from their positions in Chongqing on March 15. A website promoting Mao Zedong was suddenly forced to shut down. People were suddenly forbidden from singing Cultural Revolution songs in public areas where previously they had been allowed. The atmosphere in Beijing remains tense.

Additionally, seven people including a journalist Li Delin, 33, were detained by police due to claims by the State Internet Information Office that they were spreading rumours on the internet and “had been a bad influence on the public”. Two popular microblog service companies, Sina and Tencent, suffered clampdowns for similar reasons, with their sites’ comment functions disabled for three days.

At least a further four people, including a bloggers, Wu Guanhuang (pen name Xiao Yong) and Gu Chuan were detained by police and forbidden to leave China. On March 31, Wu was charged with illegal assembly for taking a picture of protestors asking for political reform and disseminated it over the internet. Gu, a citizen journalist, was forbidden to leave Beijing to go to Columbia University in United States, and was provided with the excuse by police that this was due to an “uncertain political situation internally and externally”.

http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/six-netizens-arrested-and-sixteen-websites-shut-down-in-china

http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-concerned-for-journalist-missing-in-china

7) Tibetan Writer Forbidden from Leaving Beijing

The IFJ was deeply concerned by reports that Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser was forbidden from leaving Beijing after she was awarded the Prince Claus Award for 2012 by the Government of the Netherlands. Woeser had also been prevented from receiving the Prince Claus Award for 2011 by the Chinese authorities. Not only was Woeser denied the opportunity to receive the award from the Dutch Ambassador to China, but her movements within Beijing were also restricted.

Five past awardees including Arif Hasan (Karachi, Pakistan), Ganesh Devy (Vadodara, India), Jyotindra Jain (New Delhi, India), Kanak Mani Dixit (Kathmandu, Nepal) and Mehrdad Oskouei (Tehran, Iran) gave their full support to Woeser, noting their belief that she represents the finest ideals of the human spirit, represented by her intellectual independence and courage to speak out in the face of danger. Although the authority did not explain why they prevented Woeser from leaving China, the IFJ believes it might be related to the more than thirty Tibetan monks who have self immolated in a number of Tibetan-populated areas such as Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai that have gone without mention by media in Mainland China The Media in China knows that Tibet is a taboo subject in China due to the issues surrounding the separation of Tibet. They cannot produce any individual reports, and can only republish Xinhua reports. “It is so annoying that no media is allowed to enter the area to find out the truth while the number of self immolation is rising.” IFJ Asia-Pacific Office said. According to the regulations for overseas media, they have to apply for a permit to enter Tibet, however media have also been restricted from entering the area outside Tibet.

The IFJ has urged the UN to investigate the case.

8) Hong Kong’s Anti-Stalking Laws Fail to Exempt Media

In December 2011, the government of Hong Kong released a consultation paper on stalking. Following this, a proposed anti-stalking legislation was highlighted as threatening to severely restrict press freedom and create serious implications for journalists undertaking legitimate journalistic activities. The IFJ and its affiliate, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) were concerned that the proposed anti-stalking law could be used to prevent legitimate investigative journalism. The IFJ and the HKJA noted the need for measures to protect people from stalking, but warned that this should not come at the expense of journalists doing their jobs or press freedom.

Since the law would not exempt journalist activities, the IFJ urged affiliates to help safeguard press freedom by writing, sending an email or fax to the Hong Kong Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, to express objections to the proposed legislation.

The IFJ also supported the HKJA’s belief that the Government could enhance the current law instead of enacting a new law.

9) Hong Kong Police Continue to Disrespect Media Rights

On 15 March, an IFJ representative attended the security panel of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and asked the Hong Kong Police to consider six suggested recommendations regarding press freedom. The recommendations included that the plan of operations should include a clause that would respect the rights of the media .

The Hong Kong Police did not promise to consider the recommendations, but rather repeatedly said that police would cooperate with the media. Despite this, three days later, Poon Ching- Ki, a photographer for the Hong Kong Economic Times, was pushed and detained by a policeman when he attempted to take photos of a protest on March 19. Poon repeatedly told the policeman that he was a journalist, but he ignored him. The policeman reportedly said “’you are under arrest!’ I was shocked since I haven’t committed any crime” Poon added. He filed a complaint with the Police Department.

Serenade Woo
IFJ Project Manager
IFJ Asia-Pacific
asiapacific.ifj.org
ifj@ifj-asia.org
ifjchina@ifj-asia.org

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries

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