The Chinese government "continues to find new tactics to intimidate foreign reporters, their Chinese colleagues, and people whom the international press aspires to interview," the Foreign Correspondents' Club observed in its annual report issued on Monday.
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| [Beijing, China] |
According to a professional group, international news agencies in China are functioning with substantially decreased personnel, while foreign journalists who remain in the country suffer intimidation, harassment, and threats of legal action, according to a study released on Monday. According to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) annual poll, "99 percent of foreign journalists" claimed their working circumstances did not satisfy international standards.
According to the report, "the Chinese state continues to discover new tactics to frighten international correspondents, their Chinese colleagues, and people whom the foreign press intends to interview." With roughly 10 instances, the Chinese authorities appear to be "encouraging a wave of legal procedures" or threats of legal proceedings against international media in reaction to interviews or reporting.
In the poll, David Rennie, director of the British weekly "The Economist" in Beijing, noted that "the range of dangers is shifting." "The media now face the possibility of having their information sanctioned by legal sanctions, civil complaints, or investigations in the name of national security," he says. In the pretext of national security, the communist party jailed two media workers in 2020: an Australian journalist, Cheng Lei, a Chinese television presenter, and Haze Fan, a Chinese editorial assistant for the American agency Bloomberg.
Restrictions on Journalists in China
The news comes as a significant number of international journalists prepare to arrive in Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games on Friday. Severe Covid-19 limitations will restrict their travels within a tightly sealed health bubble imposed around Olympic activities, and they will not be able to visit Beijing.
Nine out of ten China-based reporters polled stated they would not visit the Olympic zone in order to retain mobility, continue reporting, and avoid being quarantined thereafter. According to the paper's authors, China's zero Covid-19 policy has also resulted in intermittent and unexpected quarantines, making it impossible to cover outside of the country's major cities, where most media outlets are headquartered.
Journalists 'Bullying' in China
Many Chinese journalists have reported harassment in the field, especially from ordinary individuals who are increasingly antagonistic to foreign journalists. "Attacks are backed by the regime, particularly online troll operations," according to the study.
Many respondents expressed worry about the rising lack of foreign journalists in China. In the pretext of combating Covid, Beijing has substantially limited the number of visas provided to foreign journalists. As of 2020, President Xi Jinping's dictatorship has evicted 18 American media journalists, most of whom had been removed merely for failing to renew their yearly work licences when they expired. Few have been able to return to China subsequently. Several prominent American news outlets have been relegated to covering Chinese news from other areas of the world, particularly from the competitor island of Taiwan. "Remote coverage of China is becoming more common," says the FCCC.