The Christian Science Monitor reports on the Lan Chengzhang case and on corruption in the media in China:
The phenomenon of people posing as journalists to extort money from businesses is not uncommon in China: A man went on trial this week in Beijing for threatening to write a critical article on his consumer website about a health-care firm unless it paid him more than $480,000.
But in Datong, where illegal mine owners are especially vulnerable to threats that their activities will come to the attention of Beijing authorities, city officials say the problem has reached such proportions that they have launched a campaign against it. The drive, however, could also be seen as an attempt by corrupt officials to protect themselves from legitimate criticism. “The Special Campaign Against Fake Journalists and Illegal News Publications,” an-nounced on the Datong municipal website, defined “all newspapers and magazines without government permission” as “illegal,” and states that “all journalists without a press card issued by the National News and Publications Bureau are considered fake journalists.”
Its provisions, including a ban on “publishing internal material not supposed to be published,” give local authorities wide powers to silence journalists. [Full text]
Lan, who was not yet entitled to an official license, would have been considered a “fake journalist” under the decree.
His death, says the reporter who broke the story, “is not a big sensational murder, but it illustrates a big issue: Will the authorities protect our right to work? The problem is that it’s the local government who decides who is and who isn’t a journalist.” [Full text]
