China

2016

  

China’s overseas critics under pressure from smear campaigns, cyber attacks

“I think my actions … have harmed the national interest. What I have done was very wrong. I seriously and earnestly accept to learn a lesson and plead guilty,” said Chinese journalist Gao Yu during a televised confession on the state-run channel CCTV in May 2014.

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Syrians protest the killing and torture of women by President Assad's regime in 2011. The blogger Tal al-Mallohi remains in jail in Syria despite a court ordering her release. (AP/Mohammad Hannon)

On International Women’s Day, CPJ recognizes nine female journalists jailed for their work

Coverage of protests and riots. Revelations of official corruption and graft. Major natural disasters. Investigations into deplorable living conditions. These are some of the important issues journalists cover in their role as the Fourth Estate.

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Read and delete: How Weibo’s censors tackle dissent and free speech

The Chinese microblogging site Weibo has a huge following, with around 100 million users posting every day. For those living in China, one of CPJ’s 10 most censored countries, the social network offers the chance to discuss and share news that is often blocked in mainstream outlets.

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An advertisement for Weibo in Beijing. The Chinese microblogging site uses a large team of censors to monitor users' posts, a former employee says. (Reuters/China Daily)

The business of censorship: Documents show how Weibo filters sensitive news in China

When journalists at the Guangdong-based Southern Weekly found that their 2013 new year editorial had been changed, without their knowledge, to exalt the virtues of the Communist Party, they took their outrage to the Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

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Tibetan blogger jailed for three years for ‘inciting separatism’

New York, February 22, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the sentencing of Tibetan blogger Druklo to three years in prison on charges including inciting separatism.

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Jailed Chinese journalist Gao Yu released early on medical parole

Gao Yu, a veteran Chinese journalist and contributor to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, was released on medical parole on November 26, 2015, after being imprisoned for more than 580 days, according to news reports.

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Chinese journalist held on extortion charges

New York, January 28, 2016–Chinese authorities should immediately release Zhang Yongsheng, a reporter for the state-owned Lanzhou Morning Herald, who has been imprisoned since January 7, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On Monday, authorities accused Zhang of extortion.

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Li Xin talks to the AP over Skype in November. The journalist, who says he worked as an informant for Chinese authorities, went missing on January 10. (AP/Saurabh Das)

As editor-informant Li Xin disappears, journalists share their experiences with China’s security services

The case of Li Xin, a journalist who disappeared in Thailand in January after telling the international press in November he had fled China after being forced to work for years as a government informant, has shed light on the pressures some journalists face to provide information to the authorities.

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Tsai Ing-wen, center, declares victory in the presidential election in Taipei on January 16, 2016. (AP/Wally Santana)

We’re live from Taipei! Please don’t tell China’s censors

Typically, news organizations like to promote original reporting. When an outlet covers a breaking news event at the time and from the place where the event is happening, they want their audience to know. However, for Chinese commercial media that covered this weekend’s presidential election in Taiwan, this was apparently not the case.

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2016