Dissenting opinions were stifled as journalists were forced to comply with restrictions on their freedom in orchestrated press conferences and interviews<\/p>\n
Roy Greenslade
@GreensladeR
Friday 20 January 2017 06.22 EST<\/p>\n
Media across mainland China was muted throughout 2016, says a report on the International Federation of Journalists\u2019 website, \u201cStrangling the media: China tightens its grip\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAll media\u201d, it claims, \u201cis covered by a bright red colour after Xi Jinping, honourable secretary of the communist party, demanded that state media should use \u2018party\u2019 as their surname.\u201d<\/p>\n It says that dissenting opinions were quashed by the authorities. As a consequence, all media became the mouthpiece of the government and the party.<\/p>\n Although a press conference was staged after the sixth plenary of the party in October last year, only a few journalists were able to ask questions. And it was then discovered that they had had to submit them in advance.<\/p>\n This practice, says the IFJ, \u201cshows that the authorities do not know the true meaning of press freedom.\u201d It points out that the Foreign Correspondents\u2019 Club of China <\/a>also criticised the pre-screening arrangement.<\/p>\n Working conditions for foreign correspondents did improve slightly in terms of obtaining working visas and press accreditation cards, although some exceptional cases still existed.<\/p>\n Access to restricted regions such as Tibet<\/a>, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia remained difficult. During a couple of media tours to the regions journalists\u2019 freedom of movement was very restricted.<\/p>\n Overall, harassment, surveillance and threats continued to occur. A typical incident happened in November when a BBC journalist tried to interview an independent candidate <\/a>who ran for local council election.<\/p>\n The reporter and his TV crew were blocked and manhandled by more than 20 masked men.<\/p>\n In Hong Kong, following the secret detention of the Causeway Bay Bookstore\u2019s owner and employees<\/a> and their forced confessions, some media outlets collaborated with the authorities to obtain exclusive interviews.<\/p>\n Similarly, when the prominent human rights lawyer Wang Yu was arrested<\/a>, the complicit media outlets did not report that interviews with her were orchestrated.<\/p>\n The IFJ also argues that press freedom was compromised in the coverage of the sensitive issue of Hong Kong independence<\/a> because journalists working for pro-government media outlets acted unprofessionally and unethically.<\/p>\n They provoked independence candidates in order to make it appear as if they had behaved badly. Also, two major pro-government newspapers regularly published malicious articles about the candidates.<\/p>\n The IFJ article concludes by urging journalists working in mainland China and Hong Kong<\/a> to \u201cstay alert and uphold professional journalism… and to decline any attempts at orchestrating \u2018exclusive\u2019 reports and taking part in pre-screening press conferences.\u201d<\/p>\n