Iris Hsu

Iris Hsu is CPJ's China representative. Prior to joining CPJ, Hsu interned at Human Rights Watch, Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, and the Atlantic Council. Hsu obtained her master's degree in international affairs from American University. She speaks Mandarin and French and lives in Taipei. Follow her on LinkedIn.

Chinese journalist held for reporting on Wuhan COVID outbreak wishes he’d done more

When reports of a novel respiratory virus spreading through Wuhan began to surface in early 2020, a few independent video journalists rushed to the city. Among them was Li Zehua, a former journalist for state broadcaster CCTV, who goes by the name Kcriss Li. Giving the slip to officials chasing down reporters who challenged the…

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How China is stepping up harassment of foreign correspondents

When international journalists rushed to Zhengzhou city in Henan province to cover a deadly flood in July 2021, they were confronted by angry bystanders who accused them of “spreading rumors” and “smearing China.” Many also received harassing messages on social media and intimidating calls, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.  This hostility spread after the Henan Communist Youth…

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China finds new ways to intimidate foreign press, FCCC survey finds

On January 31, 2022, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) released findings from its annual member survey about press conditions in the country. The report, “Locked Down or Kicked Out,” found that 99% of foreign correspondents said China’s reporting conditions did not meet what they considered “international standards.” The survey also documented ways Chinese…

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Men in uniforms and masks stand outside a large modern building..

China’s Olympic press freedom pledges: Worthless in 2008, absent in 2022

Prospects for free-wheeling media coverage of the February Beijing Winter Olympics seem increasingly dim, not least because of the attitude of the International Olympic Committee. On October 13, John Coates, vice president of the International Olympic Committee, dismissed out of hand calls from CPJ, human rights groups, and US lawmakers to pressure Beijing over its…

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‘Fear and anxiety’ rules among local journalists, Hong Kong Journalists Association finds

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) found that authorities use the national security law to silence journalists, systematically limit the media’s ability to access to public databases, and force public and private broadcasters to minimize their political content and, in the case of at least one public broadcaster, spread government propaganda in its annual report,…

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‘I had escaped death’: 64 Tianwang journalist Wang Jing recounts her traumatic imprisonment in China

Most journalists jailed in China are afraid to speak out after their release. In a rare interview, Wang Jing, who is now in the United States seeking asylum, has recounted her imprisonment and alleged torture in China.  Wang was arrested in 2014 when she was reporting on a protest for the now-defunct news outlet 64 Tianwang. In…

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Foreign correspondents in China face COVID-19 restrictions and expulsions, FCCC finds

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China found that “media freedoms deteriorated significantly in 2020” in its annual report, released Monday. The report, titled “Track, Trace, Expel: Reporting on China Amid a Pandemic,” surveyed 150 club members representing news organizations from 30 countries and regions.  In 2020, China used the COVID-19 pandemic to impose restrictions on…

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Chinese journalist Lu Yuyu describes abuse and mistreatment over 4 years in prison

Covering protests in China is a difficult and dangerous task, as Lu Yuyu, the founder of the blog Not News, knows firsthand. Lu ran the outlet with his partner, Li Tingyu, with the goal of evading censorship and publishing information about protests throughout the country. Not News covered demonstrations against land grabs, wage disputes, pollution,…

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Journalists in Hong Kong fear for personal safety as China pushes national security law through

A new survey conducted by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and released June 19 showed that an overwhelming majority of journalists in Hong Kong worry about their personal safety if the new national security law is enacted. The legislation, approved by the National People’s Congress in Beijing, would criminalize any act of secession, subversion,…

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China’s COVID-19 countermeasures include restricting press freedom

In the nearly 71 years of Communist Party rule in China, the country’s citizens have enjoyed brief periods of relatively free speech, as during the abortive Hundred Flowers Campaign in 1956-57, or the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when investigative journalists covered local corruption and pollution. When the coronavirus outbreak first began spreading in…

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