{"id":166533,"date":"2013-12-11T19:52:01","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T03:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=166533"},"modified":"2013-12-11T19:52:01","modified_gmt":"2013-12-12T03:52:01","slug":"chinas-treatment-foreign-journalists-examined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2013\/12\/chinas-treatment-foreign-journalists-examined\/","title":{"rendered":"China’s Treatment of Foreign Journalists Examined"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a roundtable event held by the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China on Wednesday, The New York Times’ Edward Wong, TIME’s Hannah Beech, Bob Dietz of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Sarah Cook of Freedom House shared their views on the currently wintry climate for foreign journalists in China<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Critical to understanding developments in China has been the ability of journalists to cover that country. Domestic journalists operate under heavy censorship while foreign journalists now report a worsening environment under President Xi Jinping. In November, Chinese officials denied a visa to Paul Mooney, an American journalist who had spent the past 18 years in China and had reported on environmental problems, Tibet, Xinjiang, the plight of human rights activists, and kidnapped children, among other stories. Currently some two dozen journalists from the New York Times and Bloomberg have yet to receive their visas as a year-end deadline approaches, and the Web sites of both news organizations have been blocked in China after publishing articles detailing the wealth of the relatives of China\u2019s top leaders. Foreign journalists report concern over government retaliation, harassment of sources, and physical threats, and allegations of self-censorship in the face of pressure from Chinese authorities have also surfaced. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

See more on the situation at CDT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The entire session is available to view online<\/a> (skip to 16:15). The Telegraph’s Peter Foster, formerly based in Beijing, reported:<\/p>\n

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“We are calling on China to immediately cease its policy of harassing foreign journalists. They’ve denied and delayed visas, they’ve blocked websites of foreign media in China. That’s not the way to be integrated into the world economy, or the world generally,” said Sherrod Brown, a Democrat senator from Ohio chairing the hearing.<\/p>\n

“We ask and demand that China back off this policy. If the situation does not improve we’ll consider other steps that Congress may take to address this issue.”<\/p>\n

[\u2026] Although China has routinely used the visa renewal process to put pressure on correspondents and their news organisations, the scale of the current row is unprecedented, with some 24 journalists left in what Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists called “visa purgatory”. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

CPJ’s Asia Desk tweeted highlights:<\/p>\n

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We can't get an accurate picture without journalists says @SenSherrodBrown<\/a>. Who will report what is happening to #Uyghurs<\/a> and in #Tibet<\/a>?<\/p>\n

— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) December 11, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n