Jiang Weiping, China
Jiang Weiping is a 2001 International Press Freedom Award winner and veteran journalist. Jiang was jailed in China on charges of “revealing state secrets” and sentenced to nine years in prison following a secret trial held on September 5, 2001. He is former Dalian bureau chief for the newspaper Wen Hui Bao and reporter for…
Free Maziar Bahari: 100 global journalists petition Iran
Your Excellency: We are writing to express our grave concern at the detention of our esteemed fellow journalist Maziar Bahari and to request his immediate release. Mr. Bahari has been detained since June 21. No charges have been brought against him, and he has not been granted access to a lawyer. As one of the most impartial and committed journalists in his field, he has reported regularly over the past decade from the Middle East, principally from Iran and Iraq, and provided consistently balanced and insightful reports. As an award-winning documentary filmmaker, he has earned global respect for his work.
Xinjiang reporters detained; Beijing commentator missing
New York, July 13, 2009–Chinese police should halt the detentions of journalists reporting on ethnic violence in Xinjiang and reveal the whereabouts of a Uighur academic and Internet commentator who is missing and reportedly detained in Beijing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
‘The mob turned on us’: Foreign reporters in Xinjiang
Chinese authorities have, unusually, welcomed foreign reporters to Xinjiang since ethnic rioting broke out on Sunday in Urumqi between the Uighur minority and Han Chinese. A Beijing-based agency has even offered to facilitate travel, according to one writer who blogs from Shanghai. (CPJ hasn’t confirmed his story. Have any other reporters been approached in this…
Looking at Tiananmen as a ‘development opportunity’
The English-language version of the state newspaper Global Times raised eyebrows on Tuesday with an article headlined, “Evolution of Chinese intellectuals’ thought over two decades.” The opinion piece included a quote from an academic referencing the “June 4 incident”–a departure for domestic, state-run media, which never refer explicitly to the peaceful demonstrations that were crushed…
Tiananmen: It’s raining censorship
It’s hot in Beijing this time of year. An umbrella can serve as a convenient protection from the sun. Back in the spring of 1989, hundreds of umbrellas filled Tiananmen Square like makeshift shelters–until the army deployed tanks and guns against the anti-government protesters holding them.
Tiananmen briefing: Gate to press freedom closed in 1989
The events of 1989, which culminated on June 3 and 4 when the army opened fire on civilians trying to block its approach to the main site of protests at Tiananmen, the “gate of heavenly peace,” are dismissed as riots in official state media accounts. Propaganda officials interpret references to the events as a sign…
No news on Zhao is good news for Communist Party
News of the coming posthumous publication of Zhаο Ziyаng’s memoirs hit the stands this week–outside China, anyway. Local media did not cover the story on Friday, and officials have yet to comment. Neither the Chinese nor the English version of the book, Prisoner of the State, reportedly transcribed while the former Communist Party general secretary was under house…