Journalists at work in China: Tibet and Beijing edition
China media analysts are looking to two significant events to shape coverage this month: The anniversary of a failed uprising in Tibet, and the annual meetings of China’s top political bodies, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. Journalists at work in both areas attracted coverage of their own…
On board the election bus in China’s Wukan
Village elections taking place this weekend in southern Guangdong province’s Wukan illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of China’s media control. Censorship measures have not prevented strong domestic and international coverage of the democratic process. But has official tolerance of dissenting views increased since leaders cracked down on the attempted Jasmine revolution last year? Or is…
Attacks on the Press: China Holds Fast to Information Control
Internet users posed ever-bigger challenges to Beijing’s media controls, boosting debate on public safety and censorship. But ahead of a 2012 leadership transition, the Chinese Communist Party looks likely to fiercely suppress dissent. By Madeline Earp
Attacks on the Press in 2011: China
Authorities blocked reporting of unrest occurring around the world, from Inner Mongolia to the Occupy movement. More than half of the 27 journalists imprisoned on December 1 were from Tibet and Xinjiang, reflecting crackdowns after earlier unrest in minority regions. After online calls for Arab Spring-style demonstrations, dubbed the Jasmine revolution, CPJ documented the worst…
Archaic media policies make China a poor partner
President Obama has promised to raise issues of human rights when he and his administration meet with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in the next day. After that, Xi, billed as China’s next leader, is expected to make some speeches, visit a few factories, stop at the Pentagon, sign some contracts that will strengthen economic…
In high-tech China, low-tech media control works too
China’s investment in high-tech Internet surveillance technology is well known, and the byzantine rules of its Central Propaganda Department have inspired books and academic treatises. But among the many tools in the box for media control, there’s one that’s very simple and low-tech: Keep journalists away.
Chinese writer sentenced for ‘anti-government thoughts’
New York, January 20, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harsh sentence given to Chinese writer and activist Li Tie, whose online writings calling for political reform were cited as evidence of “subversion of state authority.”
Under pressure at home, Chinese writer chooses exile
New York, January 13, 2012–The decision of prominent Chinese writer Yu Jie to seek exile in the United States this week is an indication of the intensifying hardships that face dissidents who criticize Communist Party rule, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, December 2011 The year in press freedom This year was marked by a wave of anti-press violence as social unrest stirred millions into action. Journalists from Belarus to Egypt and Mexico to Beijing continued exposing the truth despite being attacked for their reporting. The Committee to Protect Journalists’…
In China, real people vs. Internet minders
In the next three months, users of China’s microblog weibo.com — “weibo” is the generic Chinese term for Twitter-like platforms — run by the huge sina.com (the English site is here) news portal, entertainment and blogging site, will have to start providing their real-world identities to the site, instead of simply being able to register.…