The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China urges the government to build an Olympic legacy by enshrining the pledge of openness in new rules for foreign correspondents.
In keeping with China’s efforts to become a more open society, we urge the government to recognize in the new regulations for foreign correspondents that the free flow of information is crucial to the proper functioning of the globalized world.
To that end, the regulations should also guarantee protection of news sources. During the Olympic period, the FCCC received numerous reports of people being prosecuted, intimidated or otherwise prevented from speaking to foreign reporters*.
Around 100 countries have laws to protect sources**. China is behind most other major economies in not recognizing this international best practice.
“We urge China to join these nations,” said FCCC president, Jonathan Watts. “China cannot meet its promise of being open to the world unless its citizens are allowed to speak freely to foreign reporters.”
The current temporary Olympic regulations marked a step forward in recognizing the right of reporters to travel where they wished without prior permission and to interview anyone who is willing. After they expire on Oct. 17, the FCCC calls on the government to include these two principles in an improved and more thoroughly implemented set of rules.
In an appendix to this statement, we note areas of progress regarding working conditions for foreign reporters and suggest further reforms to lift China’s media environment towards global standards.
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Australia Network reporter Charlotte Glennie was prevented by a group of unidentified people from interviewing Yuan Weijing, the wife of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng. She said the group stopped her at a turnoff on the main road and didn’t allow her to enter Yuan Weijing’s village.
Later in the day, Glennie arranged to talk to Chen Guangcheng’s brother, Cheng Guangfu. He agreed to a brief interview. Three carloads of unidentified people waited nearby. The correspondent was then followed as she left the province. On her return to Beijing, Glennie was told by a close family friend of the blind activist that, as a result of her interview, Chen Guangfu had been detained by police at around 9 p.m. He was questioned and released later the same evening.
Glennie said: “I’d heard security had increased around the home of Chen Guangcheng’s wife in the lead-up to and during the Paralympics.” The correspondent carried with her official journalist accreditation as well as her Paralympic accreditation and a copy of the Olympic reporting rules.
