Media Ban on China's Charter
Activists
HONG KONG—China’s powerful Central
Propaganda Department has ordered a crackdown on Chinese media workers who
signed a document which called this month for sweeping political reforms, a
management executive at a state-run media organization said, Radio Free Asia
(RFA) reports.
The message was given orally by the
department, which is charged by the ruling Communist Party with ensuring that
China's media toe the Party line, the executive said. It was aimed at anyone who
had signed Charter 08, a document published online in early December, sparking a
flurry of interrogations, police searches, and detentions.
"It wasn't as if there was a written
order issued by the Central Propaganda Department. Nowadays the Central
Propaganda Department rarely issues written orders. Instructions are conveyed
orally," the executive told RFA's Mandarin service.
He said media outlets had been barred from
interviewing anyone who signed the charter and from carrying articles penned by
signatories. Some journalists had received visits or phone calls warning them
"not to go to extremes,” he added.
Charter 08, signed by more than 300
prominent scholars, writers, and rights activists around the country, called for
concerned Chinese citizens to rally to bring about change, citing an increasing
loss of control by the ruling Communist Party and heightened hostility between
the authorities and ordinary people.
It called for a genuine use of the
Constitution and institutions that uphold the rule of law, democratic reforms,
and human rights, warning of disaster amid growing social tensions if change is
not implemented soon.
Several of the Charter’s signatories were
detained, their homes searched, or they were questioned and placed under
surveillance even before the document had been published online.
One journalist at a state-run media
organization who signed Charter 08 also said he had received a phone call from
his boss, telling him not to bother submitting any more articles.
He said the reason given was his involvement
with the Charter.
Beijing-based rights activist Zhou Guoqiang,
himself a signatory, said the authorities want to force Chinese
journalists to show where their loyalties lie.
"The policy is meant to intimidate those who
have not yet signed the Charter," Zhou said. "It's like saying, you make the
choice: either sign or carry on writing."
Along with professional journalists and
editors, the decision will likely affect scholars and academics who contribute
to the media.
Xu Youyu, a researcher with the Institute of
Philosophy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he had signed the
Charter.
"Recently a magazine asked me to write
articles for a column," Xu said. "When I asked for approval from my superiors I
was told that I couldn't do it."
"But I can't say for certain if it was
because I had signed the Charter," Xu added.
Slap at government
The Charter hit out at China's government
for "clinging" to an authoritarian political way of life.
"It has caused an unbroken chain of human
rights disasters and social crises, held back the development of the Chinese
people, and hindered the progress of human civilization," it said.
A former reporter with state-run China
Central Television (CCTV) surnamed Li said the government was trying to
strong-arm the media. "Not allowing them to publish articles after they signed
the Charter, such is the behavior of thugs," Li said.
"The ideas advocated in Charter 08 are the
kind of things that a government should endeavor to achieve."
Meanwhile, Zan Aizong, former reporter with
China Ocean News, said he doubted Beijing would be able to exert total
control.
"More than 300 people signed the Charter
initially. And so many more people have subsequently expressed support for it.
Numerous articles have been written about it. It's impossible for them to have
total control," Zan said.
Many writers and academics were among the
Charter signatories detained and questioned earlier this month. They included
constitutional scholar Zhang Zuhua and Beijing-based independent writer Liu
Xiaobo.
Deputy chairman of the writers' group
Independent Chinese PEN Jiang Qisheng was interrogated by police for two hours
after he signed Charter 08, and Hangzhou-based scholar Wen Kejian was also
questioned. The Beijing home of writer Yu Jie, in the United States at the time,
was also surrounded by police around the time that the Charter was
published.
Original reporting in Mandarin by Qiao
Long. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Written for the Web in English
by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit
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in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and
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