China: Media Chokehold Tightens Before Party Congress

The crackdown adds to the Chinese government’s existing arsenal of vaguely-worded prohibitions, such as laws against “spreading rumors,” which help stifle independent reporting through the threat of serious legal repercussions. The tightening of the government’s stranglehold on the country’s media ahead of the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October puts at risk journalists whose reporting runs counter to official propaganda.

“This crackdown is a legal gun to the head to responsible journalists who want to report on the basis of facts,” said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “China has a long track record of using similar campaigns to weed out news that the authorities find objectionable because it exposes social and political problems.”

Human Rights Watch said the latest media tightening reflects the efforts of the Chinese government to purge China’s media of embarrassing reports of scandal, disaster and official malfeasance ahead of the Party Congress. The Congress, which is only held once every five years, will unveil the next generation of China’s Communist Party leadership.

The Chinese government announced the crackdown on August 15 through state media and an official website and said it would encourage “a healthy and harmonious environment for a successful 17th Party Congress” by stamping out “illegal news coverage” and “false news,” according to Liu Bingle, director of China’s official General Administration of Press and Publications. On the same day, Xinhuanet described the campaign as necessary “to maintain the credibility of the mass media and to safeguard the public interest.”

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