New York, May 23, 2001 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) sent a letter today to Chinese president Jiang Zemin, condemning his government’s decision to bring subversion charges against four Beijing intellectuals who had used the Internet to publish articles and essays on politically controversial topics. Yang Zili, a writer and Web developer, Xu…
DESPITE PRESS FREEDOM ADVANCES ACROSS ASIA IN RECENT YEARS, totalitarian regimes in Burma, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos maintained their stranglehold on the media. Even democratic Asian governments sometimes used authoritarian tactics to control the press, particularly when faced with internal conflict. Sri Lanka, for instance, imposed harsh censorship regulations during the year in…
EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…
February 13, 2001—Internet publisher Huang Qi, whose Web site carried articles about human rights and political corruption, went on trial for subversion today in a closed courtroom in Chengdu, in the western province of Sichuan. Court officials told reporters that the trial had been adjourned due to Huang’s poor health. A CPJ source said that…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the recent banning of the New Culture Forum’s Web site (http://www.xinwenming.net), which featured essays and articles advocating a fresh approach to dealing with China’s social and political problems. CPJ fears that the site’s former staff may now face political persecution by Chinese authorities.
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in CHINA New York, October 3, 2000 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed by the raft of Internet regulations announced this week by the Chinese government, which include new rules holding companies that do business online responsible for any material that party officials…