China’s Treatment of Journalists and Freedom of the Press in general

China’s Treatment of Journalists and Freedom of the Press in general

Freedom of the press has increased in China in recent years away from government control; however there is resistance to this from both the party and institutions wishing to limit media autonomy. The media still remains restricted and under government restrictions. Journalists at the Chinese television network CCTV are instructed and warned away from reporting news stories that the party does not wish to receive coverage. Stories that Journalists are instructed and warned away from reporting can cover a wide variety of subject areas, not just sensitive ones.

Certain subjects are not allowed, such as speculation about China's national leaders. Other issues such as health, education and inflation, are closely monitored because they are potentially controversial. Some subjects have more room for Journalists than others, so even though there are restrictions on subjects that should not be covered, they still can have the ability to give coverage to some of these issues in other ways, but journalists have to be careful not to push the boundaries of these subject areas too much.

“Within the People’s Republic of China (PRC), there is heavy government involvement in the media, with many of the largest media organizations (namely CCTV, the People’s Daily, and Xinhua) being agencies of the government of the PRC. There are certain taboos and red lines within the media in mainland China, such as questioning the legitimacy of the Communist Party of China. Yet within those restrictions, there is a mixture and diversity of the media and fairly open discussion of social issues and policy options within the parameters set by the Party.”
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The Committee to Protect Journalists {CPJ) reported that China "continues to be the world's leading jailer of journalists," with 42 imprisoned journalists at the end of 2004, and accuses private companies, both foreign and domestic, of having been complacent toward or complicit with government censorship. Also, in their Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007, Reporters without Borders ranked China 163rd (or 7th from bottom) in terms of press freedom.”
Journalists will be censored for providing coverage or support for opposition parties, as well as posting articles on foreign websites.

Journalists can be given punishment for activities such as these, such as imprisonment. Journalists outside of the mainstream press are more at risk of this, due to not following the guidelines issued by the government, as well as not being approved by the government.

“In preparation of the 17th National Party Conference in 2007, new restrictions were placed on all sectors of the press, Internet-users, bloggers, website managers, foreign journalist, more than 30 of which have been arrested since the start of the year. In addition, a thousand discussion forums and websites have been shut down, and "a score of dissidents" have been imprisoned since July 2007.