In the South China Morning Post, Frank Ching opines about the recent loosening of regulations for foreign media in China:
Liberalised mainland regulations on foreign media came into effect on January 1 and already the difference can be seen. Foreign journalists no longer require approval to move around the country or conduct interviews. They need only the consent of individuals or organisations they wish to interview.
As a result, foreign journalists were able to interview Bao Tong, a former aide to ex-party chief Zhao Ziyang who died in 2005 after having been under house arrest since being ousted from power for opposing the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989…
But reporters were unable to interview former Shanghai human rights lawyer, Zheng Enchong, who served three years for “illegally providing state secrets abroad” because he helped victims of forced eviction in Shanghai and sent information to international organisations.
Although he was released last year, Zheng is under an additional sentence of one year of deprivation of political rights. Journalists attempting to interview him were stopped by police who said that because “he’s been deprived of his political rights, he’s not suitable for taking interviews”.
This means those who have been deprived of their political rights cannot give interviews even if they are willing to do so. That, in turn, implies that meeting foreign journalists is a right enjoyed by Chinese citizens, but can be taken away by the courts if a person is convicted of a crime.
That raises an interesting question. If meeting foreign journalists is a political right enjoyed by all citizens, what right does the government have to impose regulations on journalists that take away this right from citizens? [Full text]
– See also a Ming Pao commentary on the easing of control over foreign journalists, translated by ESWN.
