The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges China’s Central Propaganda Department and Central Government to investigate the manner in which provincial governments are overriding constitutionally guaranteed rules about media access and rights in reporting on issues of public interest.
On August 25, the deputy editor of the Nanning-based Nanguo Morning Post, Liu Yuan, 35, was reportedly forced to resign after reporting on the murder of a teenage boy on August 4.
A senior editor at a sister paper, Modern Life Daily, received a suspension order from the newspaper management, reportedly under pressure from Guanxi Province’s propaganda department, in relation to reporting on the same case.
The Guanxi propaganda department subsequently issued an order restricting further reporting of the case, which had generated widespread media interest, including at the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.
A local journalist told the IFJ that provincial personnel had banned reporting on the murder for fear of fuelling public anger, after media reporting on a separate suspicious death in Hubei Province in June revealed police had not properly investigated the case.
“They were terrified the case would agitate the public to protest against the Government,” the journalist said.
The BBC meanwhile reported on August 25 a similar intervention by provincial officials in Shaanxi Province who sought to prevent foreign and local journalists reporting on lead poisoning among children at a village near a metal-smelting plant.
Quentin Sommerville reported that officials from the province’s Baoji local government refused journalists access to the village despite the journalists having obtained permission from the Foreign Ministry. He said local residents told him they had been warned not to speak to the media, according to the BBC.
“Inconsistent instructions and regulations between China’s central and provincial governments are impeding the ability of local and foreign journalists to report on issues of public interest,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.
“Transparency and respect for the role of the media at all levels of government is imperative for China to achieve its stated commitment to improve freedoms of expression and association.”
For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide