In the year of the global New Crown epidemic, press freedom has declined and China has led the world in media crackdowns. Not only did China rank first in the world in jailing journalists, it also censored and arrested people for reporting on the new crown epidemic; delayed the issuance of visas for foreign journalists and restricted Chinese citizens working in foreign media; and introduced Hong Kong’s national security law, which authorities used to detain prominent journalists and democracy activists.
In the year of the global New Crown epidemic, press freedom has declined and China has led the world in media crackdowns.
Blocking information about the New Crown epidemic, jailing bloggers, imposing restrictions on foreign journalists, and introducing national security laws in Hong Kong have led to the arrest of prominent pro-democracy activists.
In 2020, the Chinese Communist Party is at the forefront of government media repression.
Scott Griffin, deputy director of the International Press Institute, said, “This pandemic masks what I think is the most troubling trend or development of the year, and that’s particularly evident in Hong Kong. Because I think it’s an example of a more severe struggle between free societies, where freedom of the press is revered as a fundamental value, and more authoritarian models of society, where the media is understood as a sounding board for the government.”
Beijing’s actions to delay visas and restrict access permits for domestic and foreign journalists have stifled international media coverage.
After Chinese police attempted to question Australian journalist Bill Bottus and another Australian journalist, Bottus was forced to leave Beijing in an emergency.
In December, the Chinese government carried out a series of arrests, arresting Lai Chi-ying, publisher of the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily, and Chinese employees working for Bloomberg and The New York Times.
The expansion of Chinese law, particularly the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law, has led to a major crackdown on press freedom,” Griffin said. We are deeply concerned about this because I think it’s the clearest example of that, knowing that this is the most recent time that a society that has enjoyed freedom of the press for years has watched that freedom being taken away, in fact, before the eyes of the world.”
China says they are doing this in response to U.S. moves to restrict visas for journalists from China’s official media.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, (sic) “The U.S. side on the one hand boasts freedom of the press, but on the other hand interferes with and obstructs the normal coverage of Chinese media in the U.S., revealing the hypocrisy of the U.S. side’s so-called freedom of the press, which is a naked double standard and hegemonic bullying.”
Washington has designated the official Chinese media as a foreign mission and has placed restrictions on visas based on Beijing’s treatment of foreign journalists.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “I regret that China has decided today to further remove the ability of the world’s free media to operate. Frankly, (a free press) is really good for the Chinese people. It’s especially good for the Chinese people in these challenging global times. More information, more transparency will save lives.”
China has a track record of imprisoning those who criticize the government or report on the mistreatment of minorities such as the Uighurs.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom watchdog group, China led the world in jailing journalists in 2020, with as many as 47 journalists imprisoned.
What we’ve seen this year is coverage of the new pandemic, both the existence of the pandemic and the government’s response to it, all of which have led to the imprisonment of Chinese journalists,” said Courtney Radsch, director of advocacy for the Committee to Protect Journalists. It also led to the expulsion of many foreign journalists by Chinese authorities.”
In 2020, when access to reliable, independent news is more important than ever, experts fear that the crackdown on the press by Chinese authorities could herald a troubling trend.
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