REPORTS
December 7, 2021
An unprecedented RSF investigation: The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China
Two years after China's Pursuit of a New World Media Order, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) publishes The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China, a report revealing the extent of the regime's campaign of repression against the right to information.
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The obsession to keep public opinion in check
In early February 2020, calls for greater freedom of expression in China abounded on the internet following
the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital and the first whistleblower or the
appearance of Covid-19. A few days before his death from the disease, the police forced him to sign a statement
recognising that he had “spread false rumours” before they made him a hero, posthumously.
In only a few days after his death, the hashtag #WomenYaoYanlunZiyou (“We want freedom of expression”) was
used more than two million times on the Chinese social network Sina Weibo to pay tribute to the deceased doctor
and to denounce the mismanagement of the crisis by the authorities, a movement of a fairly unprecedented scale in
a country where the control of content on social networks has been tightened significantly in recent years. Most of
these messages have since been deleted under pressure from the censorship services.
The exasperation and mistrust of Chinese citizens at the regime's lack of transparency, as well as the lack of
information in official media, prompted some to journalistically document the pandemic, which was spiraling out of
control. Among them, Chen Qiushi, a lawyer from the far northeast province of Heilongjiang, spent much of his
time in Wuhan's hospitals from 23rd January 2020 onwards, reporting on the chaos and interviewing the families of
victims.
Fang Bin, an ordinary textile businessman living in Wuhan, also felt the need to inform his fellow citizens about the
reality of Covid-19 and posted his first video report on 25th January 2020, in which he documented the oversaturation
of the hospitals. The two non-professional journalists were reported missing, probably arrested by the police, at the
beginning of February 2020. Chen Qiushi first reappeared on social media on 30th September 2021 without discussing
what happened to him in the meantime. However, there is still no news concerning Fang Bin’s whereabouts.
Minimisation of the epidemic
Citizens’ appetite for reliable and independent information contrasts with President Xi Jinping's call on 20th
January 2020 to “reinforce public opinion management'' to deal with the epidemic. As inquiries from more liberal
publications such as Caixin and Caijing piled up in addition to the authorities' lack of preparation and maneuvers to
conceal the seriousness of the crisis, the Party sent nearly 300 “journalists” – who were actually propagandists – to
Wuhan to present the fight against the epidemic from a “positive” angle
Chinese authorities also very quickly expressed the need to contain the flow of information and free expression on
the internet. A joint New York Times and ProPublica investigation published in December 2020, based on 3,200
directives and 1,800 memos from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) from January to May 2020,
revealed the strategies in place to shape public opinion online. Minimisation of the disease’s impact on news sites
by limiting terms like “incurable”, blocking keywords and notifications related to the crisis and the mobilisation of
online commentators were all part of the arsenal used by Beijing.
Suppression of critical voices
Soon after Dr. Li's death, the CAC sent the following directive to its local branches: “We must recognise with
clear mind the butterfly effect, broken windows effect and snowball effect triggered by this event [Li Wenliang’s
death], and the unprecedented challenge that it has posed to our online opinion management and control work. All
Cyberspace Administration bureau must pay heightened attention to online opinion, and resolutely control anything
that seriously damages party and government credibility and attacks the political system.”
The repression of critical voices accompanied this censorship undertaking. The NGO Chinese Human Rights
Defenders (CHRD) documented 897 cases involving Chinese netizens penalised between 1st January and 26th
March 2020 for their online speech related to the Covid-19 outbreak inbChina. At least ten journalists and online
commentators were arrested in 2020 for covering the crisis, including journalist Zhang Zhan.
Four years in prison for reporting in Wuhan
Sentenced to four years in prison for covering the Covid-19 epidemic on social media
from the beginning in the city of Wuhan, journalist and 2021 RSF Press Freedom Awards
laureate Zhang Zhan demonstrates her innocence with a partial hunger strike that could
cost her life.
After a mere three-hour trial, Zhang Zhan, 38, RSF Press Freedom Award laureate 2021, was
sentenced on 28th December 2020 to four years in prison by a Shanghai court for “picking
quarrels and provoking trouble”. In February 2020, she was among the courageous journalists
who, despite the risk of contagion, had travelled to the city of Wuhan to cover the very beginnings
of the Covid-19 epidemic. Zhang Zhan had posted more than 100 videos on her YouTube
Channel, WeChat and Twitter, before being reported missing on 14th May 2020 in Wuhan. The
next day, authorities announced that she was detained.
In the indictment, the prosecutor accused her of “posting large amounts of false information” but
did not present any factual evidence that would support the charge. The journalist, who has always
refused to plead guilty, has given up on appealing: according to one of her lawyers, the agents of
the detention centre would have made her understand that the only result to be expected from an
appeal would be to get a heavier penalty.
To protest against this denial of justice, Zhang went on a partial hunger strike that resulted in her
being force-fed through a nasal tube. Her health condition has deteriorated considerably: in late
October 2021, the journalist, who is 1.77 m tall, weighed barely 40 kg and could no longer move
or even lift her head without assistance. By August 2021, she had already been hospitalised for
11 days.
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Full report:
https://rsf.org/en/reports/unprecede...urnalism-china
