Michael Anti’s exile from Facebook over ‘real-name policy’
The Chinese journalist Michael Anti had his Facebook account deleted in January. The reason Facebook gave was that Michael Anti isn’t his real, government-recorded, name–which is true. Instead, Anti is the name that he has written under for almost a decade, on his own personal blogs, and in his writing for the New York Times…
Mideast protests a red flag to Chinese censors
Working to defend press freedom, I take it that I’ve hit the mark when I get censored. So I smiled today when I got an e-mail from a friend in China who said he was in the gym watching breakfast television when my face came up on CNN. I opened my mouth and the screen…
CPJ calls on China to stop inhibiting international press
New York, March 7, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists rejects statements by a Chinese government official that international reporters are not being detained, attacked, and harassed in China. CPJ calls on the police to end their anti-media attempts to stop foreign journalists from reporting on possible anti-government demonstrations in what has become known as the…
China threatens foreign journalists for ‘illegal’ reporting
New York, March 3, 2011–Police threats to revoke foreign journalists’ visas and require advance permission for newsgathering are disturbing new efforts to restrict reporting on protests in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Abusive Twitter messages target foreign media in China
California-based China Digital Times (CDT) reports new Chinese-language Twitter commentators have appeared in the last week. Twitter is generally blocked in China, but heavily used by activists who access it by means of proxy networks overseas. The recent arrivals are vocal supporters of the government’s efforts to tamp down nascent “Jasmine Revolution” rallies anonymously organized…
Foreign journalists detained in China’s ‘Jasmine’ protests
New York, February 28, 2011–Chinese security officials’ concerted attack on the foreign press in a busy commercial street near Tiananmen Square in Beijing Sunday is a return to the restrictions international reporters faced before they were eased in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
China detains, censors bloggers on ‘Jasmine Revolution’
New York, February 25, 2011–China’s censors tightened Internet controls and security officials harassed and detained writers and activists in the wake of an online appeal for a “Jasmine Revolution” in China, according to international human rights groups and news reports. The apparent crackdown came in advance of two top legislative meetings, the National People’s Congress…
Lawyer’s footage of house arrest published in China
Men in plainclothes recently harassed at least six foreign journalists in Shandong province. Vivid news footage shoes a group pelting CNN reporter Stan Grant and his photographer with rocks when they tried to visit the home of an activist under house arrest. Brice Pedroletti from France’s Le Monde, Stephane Lagarde with Radio France Internationale, and…
Attacks on the Press 2010: Asia Analysis
Partisan Journalism and the Cycle of Repression by Bob Dietz and Shawn W. Crispin Lal Wickramatunga’s family and publishing house, Leader Publications, have paid dearly in Sri Lanka’s highly charged political climate. While Leader’s newspapers, including the weekly Sunday Leader, are widely known for tough, independent reporting, they have been caught up in a partisan…
Attacks on the Press 2010: China
Top Developments • Cracking down on ethnic press, authorities jail Uighur, Tibetan journalists. • Talk of media reform and press rights generates no official changes. Key Statistic 34: Journalists imprisoned on December 1, tied with Iran for the highest figure in the world. Operating under the strictures of the central propaganda department, official Chinese media…