Foreign Reporters Free to Roam China
A new era of journalism in China is upon us.  For the time being.  On New Year's Day 2007, the Chinese government lifted laws restricting the movement of foreign journalists within China.  Before Monday, the foreign press needed government authorization to report from a location other than Beijing or Shanghai.  Under the new laws, aimed at accommodating the Olympic foreign press, reporters are able to report and conduct interviews all over China without permission.

Reuters became the first news source to take advantage of the new laws when on Monday, the agency datelined a story "HOHHOT," the capital city of Inner Mongolia.  Like Reuters, many news agencies see the new policy as an opportunity to access parts of China that only days ago were restricted.  According to a Xinhua report, as soon as the new rules took effect Monday, both NBC and the New York Times sent additional journalists to China.

The new laws also allow foreign journalists to hire Chinese citizens to assist them in their reporting duties.  The AP announced this week it would be hiring Chinese journalists to help with its China coverage.  Monday's Reuters story, written by Ben Blanchard, assessed China's commitment to the new policy.  While Blanchard claimed to have no difficulty conducting interviews in Mongolia with the wife of a political prisoner, he was still denied access to a Shanghai human rights lawyer who served 3 years  in prison for advocating compensation for evicted residents.  When Blanchard attempted to enter the lawyer's heavily-monitored building, he was told by an officer, "As he's been deprived of his political rights, he's not suitable for taking interviews."  The officer had not been informed of any new freedoms for journalists.

So it seems the Chinese government is not wholly sticking to its promise to accommodate the foreign press.  After all, Tibet and the Muslim-dominated Xinjiang provinces are still off limits to foreigners.  And here's the kicker: this new relaxed policy has an expiration date.  On October 17, 2008, when the Olympics are over and the foreign reporters have returned home, the old restrictions will take effect again.  In a place where the news coverage isn't exactly riveting, for now anyway, stories coming out of China should be a bit more interesting than normal.

•Xinhua: Foreign Journalists Embrace China's New Media Freedom
•Reuters: China Sticks, In Part, to Vow on Media Freedom

 

 

 

 

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