HRW report: media freedom constraints in China

Human Rights Watch publicou hoxe un informe de 71 páxinas sobre as restriccións que sofren en China os xornalistas (os estranxeiros, e moito máis os chineses) para face-lo seu traballo de xeito independente, isto é, botando luz sobre conflictos silenciados ou disentindo da propaganda oficial.

O informe leva por título China’s Forbidden Zones: Shutting the Media out of Tibet and Other “Sensitive” Stories. Copio un extracto da súa introducción:

[...] As this report shows, the gap between government rhetoric and reality for foreign journalists remains considerable. Their working conditions today, while improved in some respects, have deteriorated in other areas, dramatically in the case of Tibet. The result is that during a period when reporting freedoms for foreign journalists in China should be at an all-time high, correspondents face severe difficulties in accessing “forbidden zones”—geographical areas and topics which the Chinese government considers “sensitive” and thus off-limits to foreign media. An important consequence of the continuing barriers is that there are key events and trends in China that cannot be covered in detail or at all, to the detriment of Chinese citizens and all who are concerned in the often-dislocating social and economic changes underway in the country.

While this report focuses on foreign journalists, it must be noted that Chinese journalists, who already operate under far greater constraints, are being subject to further controls in the countdown to the 2008 Olympic Games. In late 2007, the Central Publicity Department issued a notice which instructed Chinese journalists ahead of the Olympics to avoid topics which generate “unfavorable” publicity in the foreign media, and to be extremely careful in reporting about subjects including air quality, food safety, the Olympic torch relay, and the Paralympics; which occur in Beijing in September 2008. In June, President Hu Jintao urged China’s domestic media to “maintain strict propaganda discipline…and properly guard the gate and manage the extent [of reporting] on major, sensitive and hot topics.” [...]