What human rights legacy for the Beijing Olympic Games?

Understanding The Stagnation Of China’s Press Freedom

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China’s press censorship has long been the focus of international criticism and has also always been condemned by opinion leaders in domestic and international Chinese communities. With the approach of the Olympic Games, the degree of concern and intensity of criticisms have heightened. In fact, whether it is about supervision of ordinary discussions, media monitoring, or press freedom in interviewing and reporting during the unique period of the Olympics, the Chinese government has, at least in theory or at policy level, indicated its desire for, and inclination towards, increasing press freedom.

Is the development of China’s press freedom stagnant? The answer is, of course, yes. It not only seriously lags behind that of the democratic world, but is also far behind the country’s economic and social development. This is an objective fact that even Chinese officials cannot deny. Why then has press freedom remained stagnant? The most important reason is that China’s mainstream ideology is as if it is in the planned economy era where administration of the country is like a chess game. In a democratic society, the news media - private or state-owned - are independent of government systems (with the exception of international broadcast stations such as British Broadcasting Corporation and Voice of America). They do not defer to, or serve, the government; they do not play the role of the government’s message bearer, mouthpiece or watchdog. However China’s situation is the polar opposite: the media is an integral part of the governmental system - they are the gears and screws that make up the system, and their level of openness is completely limited by how the government prioritizes its work. Since China’s reform and opening up, promoting press freedom has always been the last priority. To put it simply, the news media does not exist independently in China.

Understanding The Stagnation Of China’s Press Freedom is by Jiao Guobiao. This is the first of two instalments. This article was originally in Chinese; translation by Amnesty International.

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In recent years, the Chinese government has unveiled revolutionary reform policies in numerous fields such as the abolishment of agricultural taxes, promotion of free education in villages and protection of private sector workers’ legal rights and interests. These policies cover a wide range of interests and have brought benefits to hundreds of millions of Chinese. However, media laws safeguarding the rights of hundreds of thousands of press and media practitioners have not even been unveiled. This fully demonstrates how the Chinese government prioritizes its work. The problem is, nobody, no government, is god. Your planning, and its results, may not fully meet your expectations. In the modern society, there is indeed a close relationship between the nature of the press and media and social stability. Press freedom could easily trigger social upheaval. However, the causal relationship may be the reverse. The current Chinese government needs to be clearly aware of another type of causal relationship, which is: the lack of press freedom will inevitably conceal and accumulate social upheaval. Although the original objective in placing press freedom at the bottom of the priority list was to ensure stability, the outcome may be contrary to that and instead, bring about greater social upheaval. Looking at the current situation, the Chinese government’s arrangement for media to be liberalised last, has at least two negative results. Firstly, it has, in numerous situations, covered up, prolonged or intensified certain disasters or sufferings; secondly, it has turned the press censorship department into the country’s “iconic saboteurs” since the Chinese government’s negative image in the international community is mostly due to that department.