Since the outbreak of the new Epidemic in China, journalists seeking the truth for the public have been the first target of a crackdown by the Chinese government. “A new investigative report released by Reporters reveals that the Chinese government has arrested at least 10 journalists and commentators during the outbreak, and at least 119 other journalists are being imprisoned in China. China is becoming the world’s largest prison for journalists, with tightening restrictions on speech.
As the Lunar New Year approaches, at least 119 journalists are being imprisoned in China.
Unprecedented Crackdown on Chinese Journalists Amidst Epidemic
Not only is China the world’s largest jailer of journalists, but observers have found that the Chinese government’s crackdown on journalists is entering an unprecedented “frenzy” with the new epidemic.
At least 10 journalists and commentators who reported or commented on the crisis have been arrested since the outbreak in Wuhan in 2020, and seven of them are still imprisoned or unaccounted for by authorities, according to the latest statistics released Feb. 10 by the international human rights group Reporters for Journalists (RSF).
“Informing the public about this unprecedented public health crisis is not a crime! These journalists should never have been arrested.” Cédric Alviani, executive director of the journalists’ organization’s East Asia office, called on the Chinese government to release the seven immediately and on the international community to “put further pressure on Beijing to release all journalists in jail in China and end censorship.”
“With the outbreak of the epidemic (arresting journalists), this is the most frantic and serious crackdown on freedom of expression. It represents the fear of the Chinese leadership, the fear of truth, the fear of speaking the truth.” Cheng Yizhong, former editor-in-chief of the Southern Metropolis Daily and first editor-in-chief of the New Beijing News, told the station.
Cheng Yizhong was arrested and imprisoned for more than six months on trumped-up charges in 2003 for reporting on Sun Zhigang’s case and exposing the truth about China’s pneumonia SARS epidemic. He said the Chinese government’s crackdown on journalists during a public crisis, when the public’s right to know is paramount, is “the most ridiculous arrest” in the interest of the regime.
The Consequences of Seeking the Truth About the Epidemic: Sentences, Imprisonment, and Unknown Whereabouts
Of the seven journalists and commentators imprisoned for reporting on the epidemic, two have been sentenced: citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, 37, who was sentenced to four years in prison on December 28, 2020, for “provoking and provoking trouble” after reporting on the new pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan, and political commentator Ren Zhiqiang, 69, who was sentenced to four years in prison on December 28, 2020, for pointing out the Chinese government’s Ren Zhiqiang, a 69-year-old political commentator, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Sept. 22, 2020, for “corruption” for suggesting that the Chinese government was not doing enough to respond to the epidemic.
Three others are still awaiting trial, including political commentator Guo Quan, 52, who has been detained in Nanjing since Jan. 31 last year on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” for reporting news about the epidemic on the Internet. Cai Wei and Chen Mei, 27, have been arrested on charges of “provoking and provoking trouble” and will be tried in April 2021.
The two people still missing are Chen Qiushi, a 35-year-old independent journalist, and Fang Bin, a citizen journalist. Chen was forcibly quarantined on Feb. 6, 2020, after uploading a video exposing the chaos within Wuhan Hospital, and has not been heard from since. Fang Bin disappeared on February 9, 2020, after reporting on the overcrowding of hospitals in downtown Wuhan.
“The Chinese government is treating the New Crown epidemic as a sensitive political issue, rather than one that involves the public health of the nation and the world.” Teng Biao, a Chinese legal scholar who teaches at The New School in New York, analyzes the unprecedented crackdown on civil society activism in China over the past six or seven years, which has made civil society’s efforts to defend rights and obtain the truth not only difficult but also dangerous, especially in the face of arrests imposed by the authorities on a variety of charges.
China – The World’s Largest Prison for Journalists
A Mr. Wang, who works in China’s official media and did not want to be named for security reasons, said the most crucial point in this control of news about the epidemic was when Xi Jinping shouted the key word: “political security” in February 2020.
“Xi Jinping’s cry of political security represents his need for intense, centralized management of domestic public opinion. For us it means that information production has to move strictly according to certain standards.” Mr. Wang mentioned that “in the Communist propaganda system, the system, or the propaganda system under Leninism, when the management is uncertain, the unification of ideology, the unification of ideas, such a strategy is very important.”
According to the Reporters’ World Press Freedom Index, China ranks 177th out of 180 countries, ahead of only North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea, which are authoritarian states.
“The statement also reads that Chinese authorities have been systematically spreading false information around the world since the outbreak, and that China has the world’s largest prison for journalists.
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