Article,
China's road of free information flow cautious but resolute
Xinhua, (2008-11-08)
Abstract
Chinese researchers, speaking during the eighth Chinese "Journalists'
Day", the last before the 2008 Olympics, said China is cautiously
but resolutely on the road to media freedom. "China has been very
discreet about media opening up, because it is viewed as concerning
state security," said Yu Guoming, vice dean of Renmin University's
School of Journalism and Communication, one of the earliest journalism
schools in China.
Öpening up brings consequences, some of which we can't predict. So
the Olympics is a chance for China to experiment, to explore the
consequences, and to work out ways to minimize damage, if any," he
added. At the start of this year, China issued new media rules that
granted easier access to overseas reporters and promised greater
transparency.
According to the "Regulations on Reporting Activities in China by
Foreign Journalists During the Beijing Olympic Games and the Preparatory
Period" that took effect on Jan. 1, foreign journalists would not
necessarily have to be accompanied or assisted by a Chinese official
when they report in China. Also, they no longer need to apply to
provincial foreign affairs offices for permission to report in all
Chinese provinces.
In April, China adopted regulations on öpen government information"
that promised public access to information on a range of issues including
government spending, drug and food safety, and land seizures. These
new regulations were intended to curb the abuse of power. The media
decree takes effect in May 2008, three months before the Olympics.
In August, China adopted the Emergency Response Law, which requires
officials to provide accurate, timely information on emergencies.
Commentators called these moves "great leaps" from the past, when
it was taboo to report on death tolls in natural disasters. For example,
the official death toll from the Tangshan earthquake on July 28,
1976, in northern Hebei Province, was not released for three years.
More than 240,000 people died in that disaster.
"The rules, including dropping the restrictions, suits international
norms and makes possible a complete and balanced picture of China,"
said Jaime FlorCruz, CNN Beijing Bureau chief. Zhao Qizheng, an outspoken
former director of the Information Office of the State Council, said
that "Chinese officials have started to realize that speaking to
the media is speaking to the public."
Apart from legal preparations, local governments are also taking "encouraging"
steps in reducing media restrictions. Starting this month, the southwestern
municipality of Chongqing, which straddles the Yangtze River, instituted
regular monthly press conferences for domestic and foreign media.
Local officials pledged not to restrict media reporting by "influencing,
interfering or handing out pre-meditated press releases." Chongqing
is the second provincial-level municipality to adopt this form of
press conference. China's business hub, Shanghai, introduced a similar
scheme in June 2003.
Media freedom: a stopgap?
Despite China's progress toward greater media freedom, there has been
some concern that any relaxation would be temporary.
"I have heard such worries, but the trend of opening up is irreversible,"
Prof. Yu said. "The revision of the old rules is part of China's
commitment to the IOC (International Olympic Committee), but it's
also a commitment to the Chinese people and media," he said.
"There might be setbacks," he said, but China would make steady progress
toward greater openness. The view that negative reports would have
negative results was still held in some quarters, but from a sociological
point of view, more information would bring understanding, trust,
and even intimacy, while the absence of information would mean the
opposite, Yu argued.
"Information black-outs have been blamed for making China seem like
a distant and mysterious state, and that just can't happen in the
future," he said. The planned stock market listings of Chinese media
groups, mostly state-owned, would also mean more media freedom, Yu
added. Zhan Jiang, director of the School of Journalism and Communication,
China Youth University For Political Sciences, said that "research
has shown that international factors accounted for increasing China's
GDP growth, and blocking information flows is at odds with the degree
of openness in the Chinese economy and logistics." "Relaxed rules
help institutionalize transparency and accountability. We hope the
relaxation will persist beyond the Olympics, and we look forward
to even more relaxation in the near future," FlorCruz said.
Road ahead
From hushing up natural calamity fatalities to a step-by-step transformation
of media rules, China is on track, but it needs to stay the course.
As many say, "more needs to be done" for media freedom. At the 17th
CPC National Congress, reporters had unprecedented access: interview
requests were promptly handled, news conferences were held, and some
panel discussions were opened to the press. But journalists still
complain that they haven't got all they want. "It's true that we
got a lot more access than in the past. But it was still difficult
to get substantive reporting. We still didn't know what was going
on behind the scenes, and it was impossible to get interviews with
top officials," FlorCruz said. Meanwhile, foot-dragging and meddling
are still major hindrances. The latest instance of media interference
was reported in August, when five Chinese journalists covering a
bridge collapse in central Hunan province that killed more than 40
people were roughed up by local officials. "Some of them were unaware
of the new rules, or pretended not to know about it...they must also
abide by the spirit and the letter of the new rules," said FlorCruz.
Just before Journalists' Day, which falls on Nov. 8 each year, China's
General Administration of Press and Publication, the press regulatory
body, released a notice reiterating that "lawful news coverage is
protected and should not be interfered with or hindered by any organizations
or individuals". "Few local officials view the media as tools for
'positive and helpful propaganda', and refuse investigative reports
and media oversight," Zhan Jiang said. "They need to change their
concept and realize that journalists are not, as the Chinese saying
goes, 'frightening floods or beasts'", he said.
Zhan said he supports more legal protection for journalists. He said
he was cheered by the report delivered by President Hu Jintao's pledge
at the 17th CPC National Congress in guaranteeing "the people's rights
to be informed, to participate, to be heard, and to oversee." "The
report sent an encouraging signal, and I believe 2008 will be an
important year for more progress in media freedom," Zhan said.
New law to ban falsifying information on accidents, disasters
CPC promises broader information access to media during crucial congress
