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Media
in China: The door slams shut
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - A brief period of relative openness in the tightly controlled state
media in China has been put on hold as the Communist Party braces for an
upcoming speech by party chief Hu Jintao, where he is expected to push for much
delayed political reforms.
Party sources have been speculating that the speech to be delivered by Hu on
July 1, which marks the 82nd anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),
would outline a program for democratic reforms inside the party.
While Beijing eschews the idea of Western democracy and has repeatedly
emphasized that China's political reforms would follow a path different from
multi-party democracy, party bureaucrats fear that even a trimmed-down version
of reforms could embolden the already daring state media.
Reporting on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China - the country
where the disease is thought to have originated and is the worst affected by it
- has pushed the limits of taboo topics. This has allowed the more
news-conscious media to debate subjects unthinkable only a few months ago.
For years, communist censors have kept a tight lid on sensitive topics, fearing
that openness could endanger social stability - a priority for the CCP. But
stung by international condemnation over its suppression of vital information
on SARS - with deadly results - Beijing was forced to loosen the reins of the
media and allow more freedom to publicize at least important health
information.
Consequently, Premier Wen Jiabao announced last month a new set of regulations
for public-health emergencies. He spoke of the need for "timely, accurate and
comprehensive" dissemination of information. The results may have well
surpassed even the expectations of policy-change initiators.
Once allowed to probe and investigate, Chinese media were difficult to limit.
Buoyed by public demand for real and hard-hitting news, spurred by the
unprecedented flow of information on Internet and vying to get a foothold in an
increasingly competitive market, Chinese reporters were out to report the
forbidden.
Revelations of scandals and corruption in the state's initial attempt to cover
up the epidemic, with interviews with whistle-blowers such as Dr Jiang Yanyong
who revealed the real scope of SARS, and reports on military accidents, usually
a state taboo, are part of the recent free-wheeling period of China's media.
"The press haven't been so lively and interesting to read for years," commented
a retired CCP member, requesting anonymity. "A few years ago, reading the paper
would take just a couple of minutes - all I wanted to make [sure] there was no
new political campaign befalling us."
But several incidents have shown the party censors' determination to stop or at
least put on hold the room for more media openness, as bureaucrats fear it
might come to mirror the days before the birth of the 1989 Tiananmen
pro-democracy movement.
At that time, former party chief Zhao Ziyang, contemplating a platform for
political reforms, allowed free media discussion on wide-ranging topics.
Complaints about Party corruption were among the triggers of protests on the
streets of Beijing.
Chinese leaders have shied away from political reforms ever since the protests
near Tiananmen Square ended in bloodshed after the military tanks came in on
June 4, 1989. This time around, Beijing is not taking any chances.
Beijing Xinbao, a weekly news tabloid run by the national newspaper Workers'
Daily, was shut down and its editors sacked two weeks ago after publishing an
article critical of the central government in its June 4 edition. The article,
titled "Seven disgusting things in China", violated national publication
regulations, according to the Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po.
In late May, four Internet activists were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for
posting articles the authorities said were inciting subversion of state power.
A sophisticated tracking system was used by China's Internet police to catch
SARS "rumormongers", who are now liable for prosecution under a new law on
infectious diseases.
Most telling, even as Chinese officials openly endorsed "comprehensive"
coverage of the SARS epidemic, in the space of a few days in mid-May, the
censors blocked out a Cable News Network report on SARS while it was being
transmitted via Chinese satellite to authorized viewers in the country.
Asia Times Online has not been immune; after ATol's Chinese-language service
broke the story of a SARS outbreak at a large housing complex on the outskirts
of Beijing, the municipal health bureau and the Beijing Center for Disease
Control accused the website of "fabricating rumors" (see
We 'fabricate', you decide, June 11).
"This crackdown by Chinese authorities signals a change for the worse in
already difficult climate for journalists," Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ) executive director Ann Cooper said in a statement.
According to the New York-based CPJ, China is the world's leading jailer of
journalists, and is currently holding 38 journalists in prison.
To drive home the message about caution in reporting, Beijing has appointed a
Party apparatchik editor of Southern Weekend, China's most outspoken newspaper
that is often criticized by officials for publishing trailblazing articles. It
was recently accused of divulging "state secrets" about SARS.
It was also the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend that reported extensively last
month on the Ming-class Chinese submarine that sank, killing all 70 sailors on
board in April. In a rare break of long-established taboos, the paper carried a
retrospective investigation into another submarine accident in 1959 that was
omitted from public news at the time.
What Hu Jintao will unveil on July 1 bears a resemblance to attempts for
"internal party democracy" of the Communist Party of former Yugoslavia. But
however encouraging to many reformers, his proposals are likely to strengthen
the CPP's rule by making it more acceptable and legitimate in the public eye.
These political reforms would call for more "open competition and open
discussion" - but all within the one-party rule.
Hu is expected to propose free elections for middle-level party officials,
posts that are now filled by appointment rather than by election. He is also
expected to call for accountability and transparency in government, following
the sacking of more than 100 officials for negligence and dereliction of duty
during the SARS epidemic.
Signs of the coming policy change were visible even during Hu's first days in
power as president of China and head of the CCP. Hoping to kick off a new era
of communist rule, he and Premier Wen Jiabao issued a directive in March that
asked state media to devote more time and space to real reporting than covering
the daily rituals of Chinese leaders.
(Inter Press Service)
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