The Independent looks at Hu Shuli’s new journalism venture after leaving Caijing:
“What are our goals at Century Weekly? The answer is simple: Support professional journalism, push forward reforms in China, and protect the public’s right to know while chronicling, objectively and thoughtfully, our nation in transition. We firmly believe this is a valuable and achievable objective at this critical stage of national history.”
The debut issue of Century Weekly is slick – in fact, it looks very much like Caijing – and has a mixed bag of stories. There are reports about electric cars, corruption in football and an edgy tale about the controversial jailing of Li Zhuang, a Beijing lawyer representing gang bosses in Chongqing, who claims he was convicted after being denied due process.
Billed as a new publication, Century Weekly is actually more of a relaunch of an obscure magazine produced by a think-tank, the China Institute for Reform and Development.
The Communist Party has relaxed rules on reporting on some of the issues the magazine deals with, such as disaster coverage and corruption, although criticism of the party itself is not tolerated. Ms Hu has a helpful background in that regard, at least. She cut her teeth at the Workers’ Daily, although her sympathy with the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown cost her points with the leadership.
