State Control

SHANGHAI, China - The savage beating death of a reporter has shone a rare light on the corrupt, money-driven underbelly of Chinese journalism, where many reporters take bribes to write good news and extort companies to suppress their dirty laundry. President Hu Jintao has ordered a probe into the killing of China Trade News reporter Lan Chengzhang, who Chinese media say may have been trying to...

New York, January 24, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Chinese President Hu Jintao’s call for a swift and thorough investigation into the brutal beating of Zhongguo Maoyi Bao (China Trade News) journalist Lan Chengzhang at the site of an illegal mine in northern China’s Shanxi province. Lan died of a brain hemorrhage in Datong city hospital on January 10. Seven suspects have been...

BEIJING (AFP) - China's Internet population could overtake the United States as the world's largest within two years, but foreign dotcoms may have to wait much longer to profit from it, analysts say. While usage will pick up as computers get cheaper and the Internet becomes more attractive, local culture and habits constitute formidable barriers to entry for overseas businesses, they said. "I...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has voiced its outrage at the brutal murder of a Chinese journalist who was beaten to death on January 10, in the Huiyuan county of the Shanxi province, and has called for a full investigation into the case. According to online news reports, Lan Chengzhang of Beijing's China Trade News was investigating a story on China's coal mining...

[BEIJING] Leading Chinese journalists have called for dedicated science coverage, as their field is increasingly marginalised by market-oriented media reforms. The Chinese Society of Science and Technology Journalism (CSSTJ) intends to petition China's official media watchdog, the Central Publicity Department (CPD) about the situation. Speaking at a CSSTJ seminar in Beijing (12 January), Li Bin, a...

(RSF/IFEX) - There has been a wave of violations of online free expression since the start of the year, says Reporters Without Borders. A website covering corruption cases was shut down on 8 January 2007, the Sichuan authorities are continuing to enforce an Internet ban on Tibetan poet Woeser and the wife of Yang Maodong (Guo Feixiong), one of the 50 cyber-dissidents jailed in China, said on 12...

A joint delegation of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) said today it is alarmed about the lack of transparency in President Hugo Chávez Frias’ decision not to renew the broadcast concession of the privately owned television station RCTV. This week, as Chávez was inaugurated for his third term, the delegation examined the highly polarized press conditions...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned Huang Liangtian's dismissal as editor of "Bai Xing" ("Popular Masses"), a monthly owned by the agriculture ministry that has acquired a reputation for investigative reporting. Under political pressure, Huang's superiors told him on 30 December 2006 he was being transferred to a minor publication. "After starting 2006 with purges in 'Xin Jing Bao...

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today repudiated a decision by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez to not renew the broadcast license of television network Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV). Chavez made the announcement yesterday after accusing the network of supporting plots to overthrow him and engaging in subversive activities. The chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the...

(RSF/IFEX) - Journalist Ching Cheong, seriously ill and serving a five-year sentence for "spying", spent his 57th birthday in prison on 22 December 2006, as Reporter Without Borders and the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) presented a petition for his release. The petition for the release of Ching, who has been in custody since April 2005, attracted 3009 signatures. Before handing over...