In China, journalists fight back
Coverage of virus riles government
The Chinese government, eager to claim victory in what China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has described as a “people’s war” against the coronavirus, is leading a sweeping campaign to purge the public sphere of dissent, censoring news reports, harassing citizen journalists and shutting down news sites.
Chinese journalists, buoyed by an outpouring of support from the public and widespread calls for free speech, are fighting back in a rare challenge to the ruling Communist Party.
They are publishing exposes describing government cover-ups and failures in the health care system. They are circulating calls for press freedom. They are using social media to draw attention to injustice and abuse, circumventing an onslaught of propaganda orders.
Many flocked to Wuhan, China, before the city imposed a lockdown in late January.
The journalists’ stories have stoked widespread anger in China, painting a portrait of a government that was slow to confront the virus and worked steadfastly to silence anyone who tried to warn about its spread.
Profile, a general interest magazine in China, uncovered a severe shortage of testing kits in Wuhan.
Caijing, a business magazine, published an explosive interview with an anonymous health expert who acknowledged that officials in Wuhan delayed warning the public that the virus could spread from person to person. “Why was no human-to-human transmission found?” the headline asked.
Caixin, an influential news magazine, detailed how health officials concealed early evidence that the virus showed striking similarities to severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which caused a deadly outbreak in 2002 and 2003.
Xi, who rose to power in 2012, has worked to more tightly control the news media than his predecessors, demanding that it first and foremost serve as a party mouthpiece.
Under Xi, the government has moved swiftly to shut down critical reporting during major disasters, including the chemical explosion in the port city of Tianjin in 2015 that killed 173 people.
But authorities have struggled to rein in coverage of the coronavirus outbreak that has affected the lives of 1.4 billion people nationwide, in part because the Chinese public has resorted to innovative methods to preserve a record of what has transpired.
“This time the government’s control of free speech has directly damaged the interests and lives of ordinary people,” said Li Datong, a retired newspaper editor in Beijing.
Xi’s efforts to limit independent news reporting could undermine trust in the government, experts say. Many people are furious that the party, facing one of the most severe crises in its seven-decade rule, is tightening its grip on power rather than exposing itself to scrutiny.
As the censorship has intensified, Chinese journalists have been forced to get creative.
Some have focused on mistakes by local officials, instead of national leaders, to avoid censorship. Others have shared news tips and sources with colleagues at rival organizations, in case their own stories are suppressed.
The government has galvanized its enormous propaganda machine and harsh controls as it tries to drown out the dissonant messages. It has deployed 300 reporters to Wuhan to tell uplifting stories about the party’s fight against the virus. And it has tried to silence citizen journalists who live-streamed scenes of anger and despair from Wuhan; several have recently disappeared.