CNN: China launches media crackdown

June 19, 2001

BEIJING, China -- An editor at a popular Chinese newspaper has been fired and other journalists forced to undergo political instruction in the latest spate of sackings signaling a new media crackdown, analysts say.

Ma Yunlong was removed as deputy editor-in-chief of a Henan province newspaper after he approved articles that exposed corruption among health officials and business regulators.

"These articles were well-intentioned and sought to improve the overall environment" in Henan, Ma told the Associated Press. "I was just doing my job."

Ma said he was also criticized for approving use of a Xinhua article in March that aired foreign investors' complaints about Henan officials' graft, chaotic management and obstruction.

Journalists and media watchers say a new spate of firings, closures and intimidation is under way to rein in the Chinese media, seen as challenging the [party' name omitted] party's controls on coverage.

Two top editors at Southern Weekend, one of China's most prominent newspapers, were dismissed less than two weeks ago following official complaints about their articles.

Refresher courses The government's All-China Journalism Association says reporters and editors nationwide are being forced to attend refresher courses on the role of the media in China's [party' name omitted] society.

And authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan recently shut Shubao, a daily that enjoyed high readership and relative autonomy from the government.

While all media outlets are state-owned, dwindling subsidies have forced officials to let them compete for readers with livelier stories that sometimes cross the line of official tolerance.

Officials this year are concerned independent reporting could fan resentment over rising unemployment and official corruption.

Many also want to muzzle the media to prevent it from joining in power struggles as China begins a transition to a new generation of top leaders next year.

"The party has no intention of allowing a free press, but now they have to contend with growing professionalism among journalists, profit seeking by media and the effects of exposure to media outside China," said Joseph Cheng, a China watcher at City University of Hong Kong.