China / Asia

  
Number of journalists who covered corruption who were killed in relation to their work since 1992, by country. (Mehdi Rahmati/CPJ research)

Protecting journalists who cover corruption is good for the bottom line

Corruption is one of the most dangerous beats for journalists, and one of the most important for holding those in power to account. There is growing international recognition that corruption is also one of the biggest impediments to poverty reduction and good governance. This is why journalists on this beat must be protected, including by…

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Taiwanese journalists barred from UN aviation agency assembly

New York, September 26, 2016 – The International Civil Aviation Organization should allow journalists to cover its events regardless of where they are from or where their employers are located, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The UN agency, which is responsible for setting global safety standards, yesterday refused to accredit two journalists for…

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A woman shows footage on her mobile phone she says shows residents of Wukan, in China's Guangdong province, detained by police, September 14, 2016. (Reuters/Damir Salgoj)

Chinese police detain, assault Hong Kong journalists for covering protest

New York, September 15, 2016 – Chinese authorities should launch a credible, independent investigation into allegations police assaulted journalists and allow reporters to do their work, including covering protests, without restriction, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police in China’s southern Guangdong province last night assaulted and detained five journalists from Hong Kong-based news…

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Chinese journalist beaten in detention, lawyer says

New York, September 1, 2016 – Chinese authorities should credibly investigate allegations that prison guards beat online journalist Lu Yuyu in custody and ensure that he gets proper medical treatment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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An empty refrigerator at a convenience store at West Lake, in Hangzhou, China, on August 31 bears a sign that reads 'During G20, beverages and dairy products are not allowed to be purchased and are sold out. Thanks.' Authorities have ordered the media not to report on inconveniences caused by the summit. (Reuters/Aly Song)

Criticism and jokes off limits ahead of G20 summit in Hangzhou, China

The city of Yuyao, in China’s Zhejiang province, is 70 miles away from Hangzhou, where leaders of the world’s 20 leading economies will gather September 4 and 5 for the annual G20 summit. Nonetheless, on August 26, democracy activist You Jingyou and his wife were subject to extra security checks at the train station in…

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A cover of Time magazine on display in Hong Kong, July 22, 2016, features portraits of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and former leader Mao Zedong. (AP/Vincent Yu)

As Beijing tightens grip on Hong Kong media, mainland journalists suffer

On August 1, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu, who had been detained incommunicado for over a year, reemerged–with an unusual twist on an old script. Wang gave a TV interview in which she renounced her legal work and accused foreign forces of using her to “attack” and “smear” the Chinese government; the report…

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A Chinese security officer holds the media rope as U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, background left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, are seated for photographers at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 25, 2016. Xi's increasing intolerance of negative coverage has approached a kind of lèse-majesté. (AP/How Hwee Young)

China shuts down internet reporting as Xi’s sensitivity begins to resemble lèse-majesté

On July 1, popular internet portal Tencent, in its original news reporting section, published an article on a speech that President Xi Jinping gave the same day at a conference celebrating the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. One line of the article read, “Xi Jinping outburst an important speech.” To…

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China sentences Hong Kong publisher, editor

New York, July 26, 2016-The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the convictions and prison sentences by a mainland Chinese court of Wang Jianmin and Guo Zhongxiao, the publisher and editor, respectively, of two Hong Kong magazines, alongside an editorial assistant and the publisher’s wife.

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India refuses to renew visas for three Chinese journalists

New York, July 25, 2016–Authorities in India have refused to renew the visas for three journalists from China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency. The bureau chief Wu Qiang, who is based in Delhi, and his Mumbai-based colleagues Lu Tang and She Yonggang were ordered to leave the country before their visas expire on July 31, according…

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, talks with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, right, as Lu Wei, left, China's Internet czar, looks on at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, Washington, on September 23, 2015. Lu Wei left the Cyberspace Administration of China at the end of June. (AP/Ted S. Warren)

China’s information and internet controls will only tighten under Xu Lin

When the new director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Xu Lin, issued on July 3 a warning that websites not report unverified content drawn from social media without facing possible punishment, it was clear that Beijing would move quickly beyond the Lu Wei era of information control. The announcement demanded that news websites provide…

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