Police detained and questioned for three hours James Miles of the Economist along with a local driver and a Uighur source, confiscated the identification documents of the two Uighur men and warned Miles not to report on what he had seen in Kashgar.
Miles was interviewing a source in a public area when the source received a phone call instructing him to report immediately to the local police station with the journalist and his driver. The three men went to the police station. They were separated for questioning, which was wide-ranging. Miles characterized the interrogation as “tedious but polite”. He said after all three men were released, the police kept the documents belonging to the Uighur driver and interview subject.
The driver is fine, but Miles was unable to contact the source in the days following. “I was told not to report anything I had seen while I was traveling around Kashgar and that it would be troublesome for me if I did so,” said Miles.
As the Beijing Olympics draws to a close, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China urges the government to move decisively to make media openness a legacy of the Games.
Despite welcome progress in terms of accessibility and the number of press conferences within the Olympic facilities, the FCCC has been alarmed at the use of violence, intimidation and harassment outside.
The club has confirmed more than 30 cases* of reporting interference since the formal opening of the Olympic media center on July 25th, and is in the process of checking at least 20 other reported incidents. The host government has not lived up to its Olympic promise that the media will be completely free to report on all aspects of China.
The most disturbing trend was the rise in cases of police roughing up or beating reporters and breaking their cameras. Altogether, we have heard of 10 such cases in the past month, more than for the whole of last year. The total number of reporting interference incidents between January 1 and August 20 is 152, just short of the figure for all of 2007.
There have been areas of progress: Officials inside the Olympic zone, as well as at the government-organized Beijing International Media Center, have been available for comment. Some formerly restricted websites have been unblocked. According to temporary Olympic regulations, journalists are free to travel and interview anyone who is willing. Police have been instructed not to put their hands over cameras or to interrupt interviews. One Free Tibet press conference in Beijing was held without interference by police (though coverage of several earlier actions resulted in friction).
But much needs to be done. The Olympic reporting rules are temporary and have not been fully implemented. Many areas of China, particularly Tibet, remain off-limits to reporters. Sources are still harassed or imprisoned for talking to foreign journalists. Reporters are often followed or stopped when they visit sensitive areas. Many internet sites and radio stations remain blocked. Despite vague reassurances from the authorities that there will be no step backwards, it remains unclear whether the government will re-block websites and re-impose travel restrictions on reporters after the Olympics. The FCCC urges the authorities to make these easings permanent.
“The Chinese government failed to make the Olympic podium on media freedom,” said Jonathan Watts, FCCC president. “But there is a basis to build on. Violence against journalists must end immediately and the authorities should take more steps towards transparency and openness. The legacy of the Games can still be a positive one.”
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Officials interrupted filming of a corn farmer in Mancheng, Hebei province by a Sky TV crew that was working on a story about the drought in northern China. Holly Williams said the officials very aggressively told the woman farmer to halt what she was doing and then demanded to see the IDs of the film crew even though they were wearing Olympic IDs. The officials refused to show their own identification, but blocked filming by putting their hands over the camera and on the microphone. They then followed the film crew in a car all the way back to the Beijing city limits.
“It certainly had an impact on our story,” Williams said. “We needed the shot of corn farming, but we couldn’t do it.”
Two Associated Press photographers attempting to cover an Olympics-timed protest were roughed up by plainclothes security officers, forced into cars and taken to a nearby building where they were questioned before being released, the news service reported. Memory cards from their cameras were confiscated.
The two were separately trying to find a planned protest by free Tibet supporters late Wednesday southwest of the Bird’s Nest stadium. They arrived separately and each was set upon by people in civilian dress, apparently plainclothes state security agents or police. One was knocked to the ground, had his face pressed in the dirt, arm twisted behind his back and his cameras ripped from him. The other was tackled from behind, pushed to the ground, had his camera grabbed, all while being filmed.
They were forced into different unmarked cars, taken separately to an office a few blocks away, and held separately. Their photo cards were taken away. One was asked his views on Tibet. He was held for about 30-40 minutes before he was released. The other photographer was held for a similar length of time and then released.
Katri Makkonen of Finnish Broadcasting Company and two others were followed by three men who prevented her from talking to locals in the Caochangdi district of Beijing about how they were enjoying the Olympics.
“Three goons followed us everywhere after we went to interview a lady in a shop watching a black-and-white TV they told her not to talk to us,” she said.
Police later arrived and questioned the reporters. Makkonen asked the police to tell the three men to stop following her and intimidating villagers.
“When I did that, the police just walked away. It was obvious that they were working together,” Makkonen. “It was really annoying because it made it impossible for us to speak to the people even though we were doing a nice story.”
