In China, 127 journalists were under detention for reporting on sensitive subjects:
Reporters Without Borders, an international non-profit group that strives to ensure information rights. They have called China the “world’s biggest captor of journalists” in its claim that China is holding more than a dozen journalists in detention.
These journalists are detained because they have published information deemed “sensitive” by the ruling Communist Party. In its most recent information, the watchdog has also revealed “A special RSF investigative report: Big Leap Backwards of Journalism in China.
“At least 127 journalists (professional and non-professional) are currently detained by the regime,” it noted within the document. “The easy act of looking into a “sensitive” topic or publishing censored information can result in years of detention in unsanitary prisons, where ill-treatment can lead to death,” the body said.
Over half comprises more than 71 Uyghur journalists, as per the report. Since 2016, under the guise of the “fight against terrorism,” the Beijing regime has carried out an aggressive campaign against Uyghurs.
The report clarified why the Chinese government is making journalists serve as the mouthpiece of their government. As per the study, journalists must undergo 90-hour annual training, which is mainly focused on China’s Xi Jinping’s “Thought” to get the press card and renew it.
According to the report, journalists already have to download Study Xi and strengthen the application for country propaganda that could track their personal information.
The report stated that the Chinese government’s repression of foreign journalists based on the surveillance of foreign journalists and blackmailing visas caused 18 reporters to leave the country.
In the same year, the Chinese Communist Party also arrested “at least ten journalists and online commentators for the simple act of informing the public about the Covid-19 crisis in Wuhan,” the Reporters Without Borders also said. Two of them, Zhang Zhan and Fang Bin, remain in detention in China.
The Chinese Communist Party has long held a tight rein over its media and distribution of information to the public. But, some press freedom groups believe that the current Chinese Communist Party has increased control over press freedom since Chinese president Xi Jinping took office in 2012.
In February of this year, the foreign correspondents’ Association in China (FCCC) stated that China employed coronavirus-prevention measures including intimidation, visa curbs, and intimidation to stop foreign reporting by 2020. The FCCC cited the responses of the annual questionnaire of correspondents and interviews with Bureau chiefs.
The watchdog added that the government had boosted China’s number of taboo subjects. “Not just the ones that are typically considered “sensitive” – such as Tibet, Taiwan or corruption – are subject to censorship, but also natural disasters, the #MeToo movement or even recognition of health professionals during the Covid-19 crisis,” it stated.
