Thanks to the New Crown epidemic, 2020 could be a particularly tumultuous and bad year. The same is true for press freedom.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based U.S. NGO, found that the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide for their involvement in reporting on political unrest and the New Crown epidemic is at a record high again this year. As of Dec. 1, the total number of imprisoned journalists rose from 272 last year to 274 this year.
For the second year in a row, China is the country with the most imprisoned journalists. And I am particularly saddened by the fact that three Radio Free Asia contributors are currently behind bars in Vietnam.
Michael Pack, the CEO of the U.S. Global Media Authority, which oversees Radio Free Asia, stressed that the country’s media industry has been in a state of flux. Michael Pack, CEO of GMA, which oversees Radio Free Asia, stressed that the illegal imprisonment of journalists is an affront to democracy. He called on countries around the world to release journalists from detention.
Today’s episode of CyberGaming looks at the details of this situation.
Vietnam jails 3 Radio Free Asia contributors
Global Media Matters issued a press release on December 15 expressing serious concern about several of its media contributors who have been imprisoned in Vietnam.
In a telephone interview with me on Monday, Mr. Parker, CEO of GMA, said GMA issued the statement in a desire to show support for journalists.
“I want people around the world to know that we support our journalists and we will support them in every way possible. More importantly, we oppose the imprisonment of journalists around the world, regardless of who those journalists work for. We support any efforts that might lead to the release and re-freedom of journalists to ensure that so many of these things don’t happen in the future.”
On the Committee to Protect Journalists’ list of journalists in prison around the world, released Dec. 15, Vietnam currently has 15 imprisoned journalists on its staff. In addition to three who are contributors to the Vietnamese language division of Radio Free Asia, there are two contributors to the Vietnamese language division of the Voice of America.
Mr. Parker believes the journalists are being held on trumped-up charges or pretexts.
He said, “I know that five of our journalists, and others as well, were put in jail on the pretext of so-called crimes, but for writing unpopular things. Democracy and freedom depend on a free press, a free exchange of ideas and speech. It is not surprising that these countries, including China, oppose these ideas. But we believe in the free exchange of ideas and we are committed to making the truth public in these countries where it is difficult to have the truth.”
A press release from the U.S. General Administration for Global Media released the names and brief descriptions of the contributors who were imprisoned in Vietnam. The imprisoned Radio Free Asia Vietnam contributors are Nguyen Van Hoa, Truong Vi Ri and Nguyen Trung Trieu.
So how has the U.S. Inter Press Service helped these journalists who are behind bars in Vietnam?
Mr. Parker said, “Because these people are not U.S. citizens, we can’t help them as much as we can help U.S. citizens, but we have been in close contact with the U.S. State Department officials who are following this issue and working closely with them, and we try to put as much pressure as we can on the Vietnamese government to get them released.”
Mr. Parker also said that radio stations like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America are a most powerful resource to broadcast against countries like Vietnam and expose the tyranny of the Vietnamese government, including the imprisonment of these journalists. The U.S. Global Media Directorate has an office in Washington, D.C., that provides support for these journalists and has done a good job over the years.
China: The largest prison for imprisoning journalists
On this year’s list of journalists in prison worldwide released by the Committee to Protect Journalists, China was called “the largest prison for journalists” for the second year in a row because it has 47 imprisoned journalists.
Mr. Parker said this is not only unsurprising, but horrifying.
“The Chinese Communist government is very repressive of freedom and denies people freedom of expression. It’s also not surprising that China has introduced false statements in its handling of the New Crown crisis. China started to cover up the New Crown epidemic and then had a focus on highlighting their own epidemic prevention measures to make it seem like they were handling the epidemic better than it really was. So independent journalists who try to discover the truth are dangerous to the Chinese government’s narrative.”
Of the 47 journalists imprisoned in China, 34 used the Internet as a platform to spread their news. Five are newly imprisoned this year, including Cai Wei and Chen Mei, volunteers for the TuanDotStar website, who were arrested in April, Zhang Zhan, a female citizen journalist in Shanghai, who was arrested in May, and Cheng Lei of Australia’s China Global Television Network, who was arrested in August. These people have been reported on several times on Radio Free Asia’s “Asia Pacific Report” program.
Another one is Zhou Weilin, a disabled special correspondent for the Rights Defense Network, who was arrested in March of this year. As we reported last month on our “Internet Gaming” program, Zhou Weilin’s arrest was not known until his first court hearing last month.
Referring to the fact that all of the Chinese journalists arrested this year have relied on social media to spread their news, Mr. Parker said, “This shows the importance of social media in China and around the world, especially when it is used to defend freedom.”
GMC calls for release of detained journalists
The U.S. Global Media Authority in Washington, D.C., is an independent U.S. government-funded agency whose mission is to deliver news and promote the ideas of democracy and freedom around the world. It oversees six agencies, including Voice of America, Radio Cuba, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Radio Network, and provides related engineering and technical services.
Referring to the arrest of a citizen journalist in China for going over China’s network firewall to use U.S. social media, Mr. Parker said the GMA has a mandate to break through China’s firewall. We have intensified that effort especially in the last six months since I took office, he said. One of the bad things that China has done is to deprive people of access to information, to news, to the outside world. The technology to break through the cyber blockade can help people break through that restriction. So we’ve restored our Office of Internet Freedom, and we’ve been more active in providing help in that area. We are not surprised that China is opposed to people going over the wall.
Mr. Parker urged the countries of China and Vietnam to drop the false accusations against journalists.
“I just want to urge these countries not to imprison their journalists, to release those already imprisoned, to treat them humanely, and to change the practice of imprisoning journalists in the future. I don’t think my plea will be effective, but I’m making this appeal anyway.”
Media outlets under the U.S. Global Media Authority disseminate news around the world in 62 languages, including Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin, Vietnamese and nine other language broadcasts. To break through China’s cyber blockade, we at Radio Free Asia provide news to the Chinese public that is not seen in China through shortwave broadcasts, our website, the U.S. Oil Tube Network, and social media in many forms, including Twitter and Facebook. Our “Cyber Game” program has reported on many of the Chinese cyberblocks this year, including China’s social media blocking of President Trump‘s open letter to the World health Organization.
Mr. Parker encouraged listeners to continue to tune in to our show and continue to seek the truth.
“I know that in some countries, even listening to Radio Free Asia broadcasts can be dangerous. In North Korea, listeners have recently been jailed for listening to Radio Free Asia. I don’t want anyone to be in danger, but the pursuit of the truth is something worth doing. So I hope listeners will continue to listen to Radio Free Asia, and if possible, speak up and let your voice be heard.
The dangers of reporting news about the new crown outbreak
Steven Butler, Asia Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. In an interview with me, Steven Butler said that this year, unlike previous years, three of the journalists jailed in China this year were linked to their activities covering the New Guinea epidemic in Wuhan.
Among the newly imprisoned journalists in China this year, Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old female citizen journalist from Shanghai, has been under scrutiny for her safety because she began a hunger strike in June and was forcibly fed. She was charged with “provocation and disorder” after she went to Wuhan, the birthplace of the outbreak, earlier this year to report on what she saw, and made dozens of short videos that she uploaded to the U.S. oil pipe network, which is blocked in China.
Mr. Butler said Zhang’s weakness was a cause for concern. She has maintained that she did nothing wrong, but did what any normal person would do. She is estimated to face a five-year sentence.
Our “Cyber Gaming” program has reported several times this year that talking about and reporting news about the new crown virus in China has become dangerous, consistent with the Committee to Protect Journalists noting the dangers to journalists from reporting on the new crown outbreak.
Mr. Butler said in my interview that the Chinese government has taken more steps to increase its control over the media, especially social media, not only by removing news posted or retweeted by netizens that they don’t like, but also by promoting statements that favor the Communist Party or Chinese leaders on certain matters, a version that often distorts the facts. Not only do these journalists suffer, but Chinese people suffer as well, because they have difficulty getting accurate and truthful news.
Verifying cases of journalists imprisoned in China is not easy
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ list of imprisoned journalists worldwide, published this year, lists Turkey as the second largest prison in the world for imprisoned journalists, after China, with 37 journalists currently in custody. Once again, it is Egypt, with 27 imprisoned journalists.
By journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists includes all those who report, photograph or comment for media outlets such as newspapers, radio, television and the Internet. They publish an annual list of imprisonments that includes only those cases verified and confirmed by the organization.
We call the families, lawyers, public safety, prosecutors of these journalists, and we try to find out if they are still incarcerated or if they have been released from prison, Mr. Butler said. We follow up on the latest developments in each case, including their health, whether they have been allowed to meet with their lawyers and their families.
Mr. Butler said it’s not easy to investigate each journalist case in China’s custody and get new information because their relatives are so afraid to communicate with the outside world.
Listeners, this 15-minute episode of “Cyber Gaming” is coming to an end. While the Chinese government claims to protect freedom of the press freedom of the internet, hopefully our program today will help you understand the real situation of imprisoned journalists in China, Vietnam and around the world this year.
Today our listeners hear for the first time from Parker, CEO of the U.S. Global Media Authority. Mr. Parker has decades of experience in media management and documentary production. In my interview with him, I got the sense that he not only has a strong sense of responsibility for promoting international press freedom and spreading the idea of democracy and freedom, but also has a genuine concern and support for journalists on the front lines.
I remember a listener friend once told us that our program brings light to them. May the days ahead be filled with the hope that America will continue to be a beacon of democracy and freedom in your hearts, that our words and our voices will continue to give you hope and that you will believe that light always triumphs over darkness.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
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