China / Asia

  
Supporters pay their respects to Chinese Noble laureate Liu Xiaobo at a vigil outside the Chinese Liaison Office of Hong Kong. The jailed activist and journalist died in July. (AFP/Isaac Lawrence)

It’s too late for Liu Xiaobo but China could show a little kindness to other jailed journalists

I have no pity for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who dug himself into a deep public relations hole with the unnecessarily cruel treatment of China’s Nobel Laureate and political dissident, who died this week. Liu died of liver cancer in a Chinese hospital, after receiving medical parole in June from prison, where he was diagnosed…

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A policeman tells a photographer not take pictures, in Beijing, May 12, 2017. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Chinese journalist arrested on charges of revealing state secrets

Washington, D.C., July 6, 2017–Chinese authorities should drop all charges and immediately free Yang Xiuqiong, a contributor to the banned human rights news website 64 Tianwang, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Sina Weibo's booth is pictured at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing on April 28, 2017. China announced regulations govern websites, apps, microblogs, and, instant messaging. (REUTERS/Jason Lee)

China’s latest internet controls to stifle free expression

Washington, D.C., May 3, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns China’s move on Tuesday to impose yet more stringent controls on the media and free expression by requiring strict licensing requirements for virtually all forms of news distribution.

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Chinese Import

Russia tries to emulate Beijing’s model of information control By Emily Parker Russia has embarked on an ambitious social experiment. Just a few years ago, Russians had a mostly free internet. Now Moscow is looking toward Beijing, trying to imitate the Chinese model of internet control. Yet the Kremlin will likely find that once you…

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Discredited

Journalists’ online activity could hurt their financial standing under a new Chinese plan By Yaqiu Wang In what would be a uniquely daunting form of censorship, the Chinese government is making plans to link journalists’ financial credibility to their online posts.

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White House press secretary Sean Spicer talks to the media during the daily briefing. President Trump and his administration have accused critical outlets of being fake news. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Deciding who decides which news is fake

Authorities decry the proliferation of misinformation and propaganda on the internet, and technology companies are wrestling with various measures to combat fake news. But addressing the problem without infringing on the right to free expression and the free flow of information is extremely thorny.

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A passerby reads newspapers posted on a bulletin board in Beijing. Some foreign correspondents in China say they are finding it hard to find citizens willing to be interviewed. (AFP/Teh Eng Koon)

In China, sources face harassment, jail for speaking to foreign media

Zhang Lifan is a Beijing-based historian specializing in modern Chinese history. He is also an outspoken critic of the Chinese government who is interviewed regularly by the foreign press–even when it leads to harassment from officials. Last month alone, he was quoted in a New York Times article about the government revising the length of…

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A man spins a wheel during new year festivities to predict the winner of Hong Kong's chief executive election. The daily Sing Pao says its staff are being harassed because of its critical coverage. (AFP/Anthony Wallace)

Hong Kong daily Sing Pao says its journalists and website are under attack

New York, February 22, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Hong Kong authorities to investigate the harassment of journalists at the daily Sing Pao. Sing Pao Media Enterprises, which owns the paper, released a statement yesterday saying that staff have been followed and harassed, and that the newspaper’s computer system was attacked.

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Tourists photograph Hong Kong's skyline. A group of new websites has emerged in the city to counter the restrictive climate for the press. (Anthony Wallace/AFP)

Hong Kong journalists try range of models to battle press freedom challenges

A new Chinese-language website pledging to provide Hong Kong with “independent, accurate and fair” news is the latest journalism venture to open in the city, in an attempt to counter increasing Chinese control of the media. Citizen News was launched January 1 by a group of journalists, including Kevin Lau Chun-to and Daisy Li Yuet-wah,…

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Hong Kong news websites barred from government events

New York, December 15, 2016–Hong Kong’s government should grant news websites access to government events, press conferences, and press releases without further delay, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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