China / Asia

We released this statement after learning that formerly jailed journalist Liu Xiaobo was detained after signing a letter to the government today calling for greater freedoms ahead of the 60th anniversary Wednesday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The letter was signed by 300 lawyers, writers, scholars, and artists…

Also: See capsule reports on journalists in jail as of December 1, 2008 New York, December 4, 2008–Reflecting the rising influence of online reporting and commentary, more Internet journalists are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium. In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, released today, the Committee to Protect Journalists found…

Journalists in prison as of December 1, 2008 Read the accompanying report: “Online and in jail”

When the International Olympic Committee released its review of Beijing’s August Games a few days ago, it didn’t hold back from patting itself or China’s government on the back. The Games were, to quote the IOC’s fact sheet, “by almost every measure, an indisputable success.” One of the intangible results the IOC mentioned was that…

New York, November 21, 2008–A court in China’s southwestern Sichuan province sentenced a writer critical of the government to three years in prison today on charges of inciting subversion of state power, his wife told the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

November 2008News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

The release of CBC correspondent Mellissa Fung, who had been abducted by a criminal gang in Afghanistan, is the focus of a few stories today. The Associated Press has coverage of her month-long ordeal, and that piece has been picked up by various papers including The Boston Globe and The Baltimore Sun. 

Several week ago, I blogged about the risk of doing environmental reporting in repressive countries. Now we have a report from CBS News about a “60 Minutes” crew roughed up in China while reporting on toxic dumping.

New York, October 17, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention in western China of a filmmaker and his assistant, who have been held for nearly seven months after taping interviews with Tibetan residents about their lives under Chinese government rule. 

We issued the following statement today after news reports from Beijing announced that China has decided to extend the relaxation of rules governing foreign journalists. The rules had been eased in January 2007, as part of China’s pledge to allow reporters unrestricted coverage of the Olympic Games.”The reports that China has agreed to extend the…