Free the Press in China!

25.11.2008 - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the three-year prison sentence given to Chen Daojun, former editor at Sichuan Daily. Chen Daojun was sentenced on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” on 21 November.

30.10.2008 - "We would like China to take the next important step and take meaningful action to protect free speech which is written into the nation's Constitution", said Jocelyn Ford, Media Freedoms Commitee's Chair of the Beijing-based Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC), in an interview with the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). More

09.10.2008 - Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Paris-based press freedom organization sent an open letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General to intercede with the Chinese authorities about contaminated milk powder scandal.

26.09.08 - "China's Central Propaganda Department's attempts to control the media's reporting of a very serious public health crisis can only serve to heighten fears", says the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

08.08.08 - Dhondup Gonsar, an American journalist of Tibetan ethnicity working for Radio Free Asia (RFA) was still waiting on 7 August to receive press accreditation from Olympic organizers that would permit him to cover the Olympic Games in China.

07.08.08 - A journalist working for Nippon Television Network (NTV) and a photographer for the Chunichi Shimbun daily, both Japanese, were beaten and temporarily detained by Chinese police in Kashgar, China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, while reporting on a bombing that killed 16 police officers on 4 August.

05.08.08 - Paris-based press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has prepared a short "to do" list for journalists traveling to China to cover the Games. In addition to the list, RSF offers journalists a useful Reporters’ Guide to China, which was written by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) and is available for free download.

04.08.08 - The US-based non-governmental organisation World Press Freedom Committee has successfully negotiated agreements with several Beijing law firms to provide legal assistance to foreign journalists in need while covering the Olympic Games.

04.08.08 - More than 3,500 people from dozens of nations have written to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to call for the immediate release of all jailed journalists in a campaign organised by the World Association of Newspapers to draw attention to the issue in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

31.07.08 - "Journalists can expect a heavily censored internet, despite assurances from the International Olympic Committee that website access would be unfettered. At the Olympic media centres this week, reporters were unable to open sites critical of the authorities, such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch", says Jonathan Watts, president of the Beijing-based Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) on the working conditions foreign journalists can expect during the Olympic Games.

31.07.08 - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed deep disappointment by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) admission that China would not provide open Internet access at the Main Press Center in Beijing despite earlier assurances to the contrary.

29.07.08 - The International Federation of Journalists together with the Hong Kong Journalists’ Association condemn several cases of recent harassment against Hong Kong journalists in Beijing.

25.07.08 - The World Association of Newspapers, along with five other press freedom and human rights organizations, is now offering the full report from the “Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom” international conference, held on 18 & 19 April, 2008 in Paris, France. You can either download it or order a hard copy free of charge.

24.07.08 - Du Daobin, a prominent online dissident writer was arrested on 21 June for allegedly having published articles on overseas websites while on probation. Daobin’s probation period would have ended on 4 August.

18.07.08 - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Play the Game, a non-profit organisation working to strengthen the basic ethical values of sport and encourage democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in world sport, have launched a comprehensive resource website -Play the Game for Open Journalism- to "provide media professionals and other interested users with knowledge, inspiration and practical tools for their coverage of Olympic and Chinese affairs during and after the 2008 Games."

10.07.08 - “Sun Lin is innocent. There is no evidence against him. He received an unlawful sentence. I am furious. Sun Lin is a reporter with high ethical standards. I consider the sentence shameful.” Watson Meng, founding editor of Boxun News, does not mince words when commenting on the recent four-year prison sentence handed to Sun Lin, a contributor to the US-based news site, which is considered as one of the most important and reliable information sources on China. Sun Lin is one of several contributors to Boxun News that have been sentenced to prison in China over the past years.

02.06.2008 - Li Chongqing, a Chinese journalist who went to prison for reporting on a health threat before Chinese authorities announced it has been awarded the 2008 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers.

19.05.2008 - Qi Chonghuai, who works for China Legal News in Shandong province, was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud and extortion on 13 May. In a letter to Premier Wen Jiabao, The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF), have called on the Chinese authorities to free Mr Qi Chonghuai.

10.04.2008 - The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have welcomed Olympic President Jacques Rogge's call for China to respect its Olympic promise to improve human rights. "We are delighted that the President of the International Olympic Committee has recognised that the Olympic movement itself will be tarnished if it allows the Chinese authorities to cynically abandon its pledges to improve human rights in the belief that nobody cares if it does so or not," said Timothy Balding, CEO of WAN.

01.04.2008 - The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to insist that Beijing ensure freedom for the press to report in the run up to and during August's Olympic Games. The IOC's coordinating committee is in Beijing for a final three days of meetings before the Games start in August. After the first round today, the IOC said it had insisted on open Internet access during the Olympics, according to news reports.

28.03.2008 - The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has called on Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, to address the Chinese authorities about the ongoing press freedom clampdown in the country. In a letter to Mr Rogge, WAN said “we call on you to urge the Chinese authorities to end censorship and stop violating the right of all people to access information. We also ask that your ‘silent diplomacy’ becomes voluble and public if the Chinese government does not immediately release from jail all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

25.03.08 - International PEN today launched the Poem Relay, which seeks to raise awareness about freedom of expression in China in a uniquely PEN way – through poetry and translation. PEN Centres around the world have translated and recorded the poem “June” by the imprisoned poet and journalist Shi Tao in more than 60 languages and, using the internet as its main instrument, the poem will virtually “travel” around the world, from centre to centre, language to language, adding new translations as it goes and ending in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.

14.03.2008 - What press freedom conditions can journalists and sports writers expect when they go to China to cover the 2008 Summer Olympics? An international conference designed to answer their questions, and to examine the methods that China uses to control the press, will be held in Paris next month. The conference, on 18 and 19 April next, will provide expert insight on the press freedom conditions that journalists - particularly sports journalists - will encounter in China.

13.03.08 - There has been no change in the situation of the imprisoned journalist Shi Tao despite numerous calls for his release from around the world over the past months, including one made by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her recent visit to China. WAN protested his continued imprisonment on 13 March 2008.

05.02.2008 - The World Association of Newspapers today welcomed the release from prison of Chinese journalist Li Changqing, the laureate of the 2008 WAN Golden Pen of Freedom, and called on Chinese authorities to release all imprisoned journalists before the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer. Mr Li, who was jailed three years ago for alerting the public to an outbreak of dengue fever before the authorities had announced it, was released on 2 February, according to information received by WAN.

01.02.2008 - Journalist and rights activist Hu Jia, who was arrested on 27 December 2007, has been formally charged for "inciting subversion of state power", an accusation commonly used by the Chinese authorities against journalists and dissidents who criticize the government. Hu's wife, Zeng Jinyan, who is also a rights activist, and their two-month-old daughter remain under house arrest.

23.01.2008 - Chinese journalist Hu Jia has been held in detention since 27 December 2007, apparently for participating in a European parliamentary hearing. In a letter to Premier Wen Jiabao, the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have called on Chinese authorities to release Hu Jia.

19.01.2008 - “Free reporting would reveal many negative aspects of China, which would be very harmful to government. The Olympic Games motivate the authorities to care more about their image, and thus the Games might push them to go to even greater extents to prevent free reporting, especially when it comes to local media and Internet users,” says Watson Meng, founding editor of Boxun News, a US-based website which has become one of the most important alternative Chinese news sources.

14.01.2008 - On 14 January, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF), called on the Chinese authorities to free Fan Yingshang, a journalist who has served 12 years in prison for distributing illegal “reactionary” publications. In their letter, WAN and WEF referred to China's promise to "follow international standards" in its successful bid to host the Games.