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Guangzhou, China (pte040/01.07.2005/15:05) - Amidst Communist party vetoing, jailing of reporters and government cover-ups, the Nanfang (Southern) Daily Press Group is gently and carefully challenging the strict, dictatorial censorship of communist China. This week 2,000 journalists signed an open petition that protests the detention of two former Nanfang editors.
Censorship is rife in China, where the Communist party's propaganda department posts daily and weekly lists of stories it deems unprintable. Although some journalists have confirmed the existence of the lists, copies have not been provided, as this is considered a breach of state security. Subjects on the list include most typically: Taiwan, Tibet and religious freedom. The longer list includes riots, strikes, and alleged affairs of senior leaders, sometimes listing 25 or more topics.
According to Reporters Without Borders http://www.rsf.org figures, China has jailed 30 reporters and 62 cyber dissidents, which is more than any other country.
As readership of Nanfang group's newspapers grows, including the Southern Metropolitan Daily and Southern Weekend, and Nanfang Weekend (now with a circulation of 1.3 million), the government is fighting to control the journalists who bring truth to the people.
Last year, three editors from the Nanfang group - Yu Huafeng, Li Minying, and Cheng Yizhong - were imprisoned on fraud charges; other reporters are regularly arrested, threatened and warned.
Liu Jianqiang, whose story about the alleged conspiracy and murder of the mayor of Henan province's wife was spiked, said: "As a journalist, my job should be focused on writing a good report. But half of my effort is spent on considering how to get a story past the censors and the likelihood of punishment."
"By writing out these notes, hopefully I can emerge from this gloomy mood. To act otherwise, by keeping my head low and docile in the face of mistreatment, and by pretending I'm a 'good citizen', my heart would feel bitter."
Due to public outcry, Cheng Yizhong, winner of UNESCO's World Press Freedom prize and former editor-in-chief of the Southern Metropolitan Daily, has been released. However he was fired from his job, kicked out of the party, and was forbidden to attend the award ceremony to collect his prize.
"Terror is everywhere," he had written in his acceptance speech. "Lies are everywhere. I believe that in the near future, we will look back and find this insane and absurd episode to be absolutely unthinkable."
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