China Issues New Bans Ahead of National Day

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns a new series of bans and restrictions on the media issued by China’s Central Propaganda Department, saying the bans appear designed to control media content in the lead-up to the country’s National Day on October 1.

 

Local sources told the IFJ that all media outlets have been ordered not to report on events related to the lead-poisoning of more than 2000 children in Huana, Shanxi and Yunan provinces in mid-August. Public displays of anger outside government offices and the detention of protesting parents of poisoned children are reportedly off-limits.

 

A ban also has been ordered on reporting of a riot of more than 10,000 villagers in Fengwei town, Quanzhou, Fujian Province on September 1. Dozens of people were injured when villagers protesting the contamination of drinking water by a tannery and oil refinery clashed with police.

 

In addition, the media has been ordered to use only information provided by the State-owned Xinhua news agency regarding the arrival of a reported 30,000 Burmese refugees in Konkan, in south-western Yunnan Province. The BBC reported that foreign journalists had been denied entry to the refugee camps.

 

Likewise, journalists in China have been told to use only Xinhua information in reporting on a recent trip by Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to Taiwan.

 

“The IFJ condemns China’s continuing bans and restrictions on media reporting on matters of great public,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

 

“The job of a journalist is to report in the public interest. These bans deny the public their right to information by preventing journalists from upholding their responsibilities.”

 

The IFJ urges China’s central and provincial governments to put an end to using mechanisms of state regulation and censorship to manipulate the media and prevent it reporting in the public interest.

 

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919

 

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide