Dec 9, 2013
Reviewing the conditions under which foreign reporters work in China, the FCCC is disturbed to note a number of negative trends over the past year.
– In particular, we have found that the Chinese authorities are increasingly using the denial of visas, or delays in their approval, in an apparent effort to influence journalists‘ coverage. No correspondents for the New York Times and Bloomberg have yet been able to renew their annual residence visas, which have been subject to unusual and unexplained delays this year.
The New York Times, since it published articles concerning the finances of a senior Chinese leader last year, has also been unable to secure resident journalist visas for either its bureau chief, Philip Pan, who has been waiting for over 18 months, or correspondent Chris Buckley, who has been in Hong Kong awaiting a visa for a year.
Paul Mooney, a veteran correspondent known for his reporting on human rights issues, was denied the visa that would have allowed him to take a job in Beijing for Reuters.
Melissa Chan, Al Jazeera’s English language service correspondent, was denied a visa in May 2012 and effectively expelled.
The authorities have given no public explanation for their actions, leading to the impression that they have been taken in reprisal for reporting that displeased the government. Chinese officials have said that foreign media in China must abide by Chinese laws and regulations, but they have never explained which laws and regulations Pan, Buckley, Mooney and Chan, or their employers, are said to have violated.
– New rules, introduced this year, according to which the police take 15 business days (three weeks) to process visa applications, mean that reporters cannot leave the country during this period, making the work of those responsible for Asian regional coverage unnecessarily difficult.
– The key rule governing foreign journalists in China – that they need only obtain the consent of their interviewees for an interview to be legal – has been progressively weakened in practice.
The authorities have, for example, spontaneously designated locations, such as Tiananmen Square or the scenes of social unrest, where they claim the rule does not apply and where special permission is said to be required to film or report. FCCC members also report being told by local officials in different parts of China that citizens’ employers must approve interview requests.
We are aware of a number of cases in which Chinese citizens have been intimidated by police or local officials, or instructed not to grant interviews to foreign correspondents. The Foreign Ministry has publicly assured reporters that this is a violation of rules governing their work, but we have seen no evidence that the central government has taken any steps to enforce those rules.
Large swathes of Chinese territory remain effectively out of bounds to foreign correspondents. Although a handful of resident foreign correspondents and some journalists visiting from abroad have been allowed into Tibet this year, strict restrictions have been imposed on press coverage there.
Even in areas that are not explicitly off limits, such as Tibetan-inhabited areas of Gansu, western Sichuan, and Qinghai, FCCC members have faced obstruction by local authorities that makes working there extremely difficult, especially since it dissuades local residents from talking to reporters. Journalists seeking to report on unrest in Xinjiang have routinely been turned back by checkpoint police telling them that they are forbidden to be there.
– The police and other security services continue to apply pressure to foreign correspondents’ news assistants. This takes the form of requests for information about correspondents’ activities, threats and general harassment.
– On at least two occasions this year Chinese embassy staff in foreign capitals have approached the headquarters of foreign media and complained about their China-based correspondents’ coverage, demanding that their reports be removed from their websites and suggesting that they produce more positive China coverage.
The Chinese authorities have repeatedly said that they are keen to improve foreign reporters‘ working conditions. We eagerly await the fruits of their efforts.