The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned to learn that a senior editor in China has been demoted because ofhis role in publishing a report which exposed that faulty government-issued vaccines had killed several children in Shanxi province.
Local reports suggest the editor-in-chief and publisher of the China Economic Times, Bao Yueyang, 47, was removed from his position yesterday because he decided to publish the report in the public interest and then defended his decision and the journalist who prepared the report.
“Although the Department of Health of Shanxi Province strongly denied the spoiled vaccines report, Bao did not retract the report and repeatedly said it reflected the truth. Therefore we believe the Department of Health gave a lot of pressure in order to remove Bao from his position,” a local journalist told the IFJ.
Bao was a key figure in the establishment of the China Economic Times in 1994 and had held the post of editor-in-chief since 1997. The newspaper is owned and controlled by the Development Research Centre of the State Council.
Bao has reportedly been moved to a senior position at a small publishing company, while the head of the smaller company, Han Lijun, will replace Bao at the China Economic Times.
The contentious report, written by investigative journalist Wang Keqin, was published on March 17. It detailed how the failure to properly refrigerate vaccines, which featured a government quality-assurance sticker, resulted in the deaths of four children and the illness of at least 74 others.
“Bao Yueyang and Wang Keqin performed an essential public service – and good journalism – in investigating and then daring to report on a matter of grave public importance,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.
“It is alarming that Bao would be punished for his role in alerting the community to a serious public health concern. The newspaper’s overseers and governing authorities, including those at the Shanxi Health Department, should be required to explain why he has been demoted.”
On the day the China Economic Timesreport was published, China’s Information of Office of the State Council’s Internet Propaganda Administrative Bureau ordered the deletion of all references to reports of spoiled vaccines. On March 21, a new order was issued, demanding the media use information exclusively from state-owned Xinhua News Agency when reporting on the issue.
In a separate case, Business Watch Magazine announced on May 5 that the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) had demanded its temporary closure as a penalty for publishing an article containing confidential government information.
The article sourced internal government documents revealing that the State Grid Cooperation of China, controlled by the Secretary of the Communist Party, Liu Zhenya, had violated government regulations by exceeding the government-imposed rate of development for state-controlled companies.
Business Watch Magazine will be closed until the end of May.
For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 125 countries worldwide