« DiCaprio's warning on global warming | Main | "Black, dangerous for the society" »

October 14, 2005

Freedom of Press in China

By Nie Zheng (Nevin)

Press freedom in China is undergoing gradual improvements instead of an overnight change, said two mainland visiting scholars in their lecture to journalism students in the University of Hong Kong.

Jin Li-ping, a seasoned reporter and now editor-in-chief of China Newsweek, said she did not believe China could have freed of press overnight. “Freedom of press should happen together with political, economical and legal reforms.” Jin said. Press freedom is one element of total reform of the country. “China doesn’t need a free press for one day only, it needs to last forever.”

Sun Xu-pei, another speaker, said he favored moving toward freedom of press in a “step by step” way, instead of following former Soviet Union’s model. Sun is a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a researcher at the News and Broadcast Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Last year, Sun published two books about media reform in China. Before the publishing of one book, top officials criticized it. After published, the book was banned for a few months. Sun said he had told officials not to be afraid of reform and they just need the guts to go ahead.

“Provincial-level officials, in their official capacity, can’t speak about what they really think,” he said, “Unofficially many support what I promote.” Sun admitted it was more difficult for him to find a way to speak out the truth than to find out the truth.

If she had more reporting freedom, Jin Li-ping admitted, her magazine would report almost the same topics as what she had already been covering, only in a more professional way. “Our magazine is a new media in China,” she said. “When we choose topics, we don’t consult the government beforehand but we will not pick the topics that have been specifically banned by the government.” Officials would use administrative power rather than the law to press journalists.

In such a gradual improving press environment in China, she said, Chinese reporters need to be persistent and persevering. They need interpersonal skills and tools to be able to find the best possible truth. “Sometimes the truth can’t be found because of the difficulties that can’t be overcome and sometimes it’s because the truth just cannot get out.” She said.

Once head of Institute of Journalism of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Sun said, he found out it was difficult to be a researcher in Journalism and media law too. He has written many things promoting press freedom under different names. Later when a collection of his works was printed under his true name, he was demoted.

“The freedom to report on Central level officials could lead to real chaos in China,” Sun said. But there should be more freedom at provincial levels. He said he believed that a one party system is not compatible with freedom of press. If China has freedom of press, it needs a multi-party system to work with it, which would take a long time to develop.

Posted October 14, 2005 07:54 PM

Comments

Post a comment