China Cracks Down on Media

Ma Yunlong was removed as deputy editor-in-chief of popular newspaper Dahe News in Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s Henan province.

A story published Feb. 28 reported that heath insurance officials met with with female escorts provided by drug and medical companies. In a second story published in March, foreign investors accused Henan officials of graft and mismanagement.

“These articles were well-intentioned and sought to improve the overall environment” in Henan, Ma told the Associated Press. “I was just doing my job.”

On Monday, an official at the Henan provincial propaganda department, which deals with media, denied anyone had been dismissed at the Dahe News.

But a spokeswoman for the paper said the editor-in-chief was forced to write an editorial criticizing the stories and newspaper staff members have been ordered to attend classes on the role of the media in Chinese society.

International media, including the French-based watchdog group Reporters Without Borders, condemned Ma’s dismissal.

“To fire a journalist who only did his job is a deliberated attack on press freedom,” Robert Menard, the group’s general secretary, said in a letter to Chinese officials. “The institution of re-education classes in ‘Marxist journalism’ is a new attempt by authorities to reduce the work of the journalists to simple propaganda in favor of the Communist Party.”

The government’s All-China Journalism Association told the AP that editors and reporters across the country will be told to attend similar classes.

More firings

Earlier this month, two editors were fired from the Southern Weekend, one of China’s most prominent newspapers, over similar complaints.

Deputy editor-in-chief Qian Gang and front page news editor Chang Ping were removed from their posts after publishing a story about Chinese criminal Zhang Jun, who allegedly killed 22 people, wounded 20 others and stole $650,000 from banks and jewelers.

According to The Washington Post, the story suggested that the environment in which Zhang grew up could have contributed to his crime spree. Officials in Hunan province took issue with that assertion and complained to Beijing.

All newspapers in China are owned and funded by the government, but shrinking subsidies have forced journalists to appeal to the public to boost revenue.

“This can mean more tabloid news, but also more public-oriented enterprise stories,” Kavita Menon of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit watchdog group, said.

Menon said the government’s action is typical of the Chinese government’s relationship with the press.

“[The government feels] as if it’s opened Pandora’s box and now is trying to shut it… These kinds of firings are routine and will continue to be” as long as the government controls the news media, she said.