Self-censorship was singled out as a particularly insidious form of censorship at a session on media freedom on Day Two of the International Media Conference.

The chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), Mak Yin Ting, said Hong Kong enjoys less press freedom now than it did before sovereignty of the former British colony reverted to China in 1997.

“The reason for [this] is.. self-censorship”, she said.

In an industry survey conducted by the HKJA in 2007, 58% of respondents said they believed there was less press freedom in Hong Kong than in 1997 and most of these respondents believed that the most important reason for this was self-censorship.

Increasingly fewer stories regarded by journalists as “sensitive to China” have been coming out of Hong Kong, said Mak, such as articles on Tibetan independence, Taiwan and the Falun Gong, a group banned on the mainland.

Kunda Dixit, publisher of Himalmedia and founding editor of the Nepali Times, said self-censorship is “much more dangerous” than direct censorship. In the case of direct censorship, “your readers know that you’re being censored … so they’ll take you with a pinch of salt”.

He said fear of potential libel threats also posed a dangerous form of self-censorship.

Faced with pressure not to write anything critical of Nepalese King Gyanendra after he seized power from parliament in 2005, Dixit recounted how his newspaper indirectly alerted its readers as to self-censorship by including a gauge, “similar to a petrol gauge”, on its masthead. The level changed every week, depending on the amount of self-censorship imposed at the time.

Kine Phelim of Human Rights Watch, Hong Kong, said self-censorship, in addition to active controls on censorship, is widespread in China. “People have a sense of what can and can’t be reported – and they have a tendency not to push the envelope,” he said.

“Undoubtedly, Chinese media is controlled. Undoubtedly Chinese media is changing. Please note that today’s media changes are also under control. Now coming back to the first point—today’s control is also changing.”

That was the view of Qian Gang, Director of the China Media Project at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at The University of Hong Kong.

Qian’s wry humor concluded an editorial roundtable on the final day of the IMC, titled “Reporting New Realities in Asia and the Pacific.”

Wednesday’s lineup included a panel discussion of Taiwan cross-strait relations, a speech by Fan Yijin (former publisher of the Southern Media Group), a roundtable of top Chinese editors and a brief talk on regional media cooperation.

Mainland-Taiwan Diplomacy

Two China policy experts from across the Taiwan Strait reunited on stage with a former “unofficial” US representative to Taiwan.

Dr Chu Shulong and Dr Alexander Huang Chieh-Cheng studied together at George Washington University in the early 1990s. Chu is now a professor of public policy at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Huang is an associate at the Centre for International and Strategic Studies in Taipei. Ray Burghardt, Director of East-West Centre Seminars, moderated the panel.

Huang used mathematics to explain Taiwan’s changing attitude toward the mainland.

During Chen Shui-bian’s presidency, Huang said the Democratic Progressive Party leadership understood China relations to be “1+1=2”. Now, with the Kuomintang and President Ma Ying-jeou at the helm, Huang said the policy equation is more like “1 + 1 = 1”.

Burghardt defended American weapons sales to Taiwan. Chu also addressed the issue. Chu said the problem is not Taiwanese military purchases; he laid blame on foreign nations making any arms sales.

Panelists expressed optimism for cross-strait relations despite the controversy.

Fan Yijin

Fan began his journalism career the height of the Cultural Revolution. When he became a reporter in 1970, Southern Daily was Guangdong’s only paper. The Communist Party permitted only one newspaper per province at the time.

“Only one thinking was allowed,” he said. “All of the newspapers in China were speaking with the same voice, the same voice of propaganda.”

When Fan retired as publisher of the Southern Media Group in 2006, he left a company that published more than a dozen titles, including Southern Weekend, Southern Metropolitan Daily and 21st Century Business Herald.

During the past 40 years, Fan witnessed a “blooming” of newspapers, and he said Chinese media has become a much stronger facilitator of public opinion.

He cited media “marketization” and new media as two reasons for an “unstoppable” opening of the Chinese press.

“Even if the traditional media won’t report, the new media will,” he said. “And even if Chinese media won’t report, the foreign media will. So, the news will be imported.”

During the Q&A that followed his speech, Fan was asked about media law reform in China. He said he did not pin much hope on  media law ref.

“At the moment, we don’t have a media law, and I have not heard if it’s being considered. At the beginning of the opening period (under Deng Xiaoping) there was some discussion about the institution of media law, but that failed. At the moment there are some academics discussing this; however, I don’t think that the government has taken any action on media law. “

Editors Roundtable

Professor Ying Chan, Director of the JMSC, led a panel of Chinese editors discussing a variety of topics:

• Shanghai Expo: Hu Zhanfen, editor of Xinmin Weekly said Shanghai’s historically strict media control remains in place in the lead up to the Shanghai Expo. Local papers are forbidden, for example, to write about old buildings destroyed to make way for the Expo.

• Health reporting: Dr An Ran, former Nieman Fellow and senior science editor at China Newsweek said that health reporting is a thriving beat on the mainland. Chinese health reporters are overwhelmingly young, he said, and they would benefit from more education and experience. He expects the beat to continue gaining prominence with China’s rapidly aging society.

• Micro-blogging: Two of the panelists elaborated on the growing importance of micro-blogging in China. Xiong Peiyun, a professor at Nankai University and a prominent blogger said, “the mini-bloggers probably don’t have an overall plan, but they are changing the society bit by bit.”

Deng Zhixin, editor of Southern Metropolis Daily said micro-blogs are now an integral part of his daily newsgathering.

“Everyday when I go into the office, the first thing I do is to check my emails and to open the mini-blogs to check for news,” he said.

Deng said he uses two micro-blogging resources: Twitter and mini-blogs on Twitter and QQ. Twitter is blocked in the mainland, but he accesses the site via proxy server.

But public officials also use micro-blogging to counteract potential distortion in traditional media. Similarly, he said journalists are turning to micro-blogs as a platform for avoiding censorship in official print publications.

Regional media cooperation

During the luncheon, two editors touched on cross-border newspaper cooperation.

Reg Chua, editor of the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, said editors should begin a candid consideration about sharing mutually relevant content.

“We all have audiences that differ, how can we write something that is relevant across our reader demographics?” Chua said.

The publisher and editor of the Nepali Times further elaborated on the topic. Kunda Dixit said the damming of Tibet’s Yarlung Zangbo River presents an ideal story for cross-border collaboration.

He also warned that libel tourism is making chilling headway in the industry. Libel tourism occurs when plaintiffs seek foreign judicial environments with strict libel laws for maximum monetary return. Dixit said he suffered personally from libel tourism.

“As our content goes more and more international, we will become more and more victim to libel tourism as a restraint to press freedom in the region,” Dixit said.

—Doug Meigs

Note: Introductions in English, sessions in Putonghua. Click here to hear the introductions in Putonghua and the addresses in Putonghua.

Fan Yijin is Dean of the School of Journalism at Jinan University, China.

The Roundtable on the Future of the Media in China comprised:

Chen Juhong, Editor in Chief, qq.com, Tencent, China
Hu Zhanfen, Chief of Op-Ed and Commentary Section, Xinmin Weekly, China
Meng Bo, Editor in Chief, Sina.com, China
Qian Gang, Director of China Media Project, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Yu Wei, Director of Editorial Operations, Sohu.com, China

Moderated by Ying Chan, Professor and Director, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong and Conference Co-Chair, Hong Kong SAR

Note: Introduction in Putonghua, address in English. Click here to hear the introduction in English and the address in Putonghua.

Fan Yijin is Dean of the School of Journalism at Jinan University, China.

Note: Introductions in Putonghua, sessions in English. Click here for vice versa.

Fan Yijin is Dean of the School of Journalism at Jinan University, China.

The Roundtable on the Future of the Media in China comprised:

Chen Juhong, Editor in Chief, qq.com, Tencent, China
Hu Zhanfen, Chief of Op-Ed and Commentary Section, Xinmin Weekly, China
Meng Bo, Editor in Chief, Sina.com, China
Qian Gang, Director of China Media Project, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Yu Wei, Director of Editorial Operations, Sohu.com, China

Moderated by Ying Chan, Professor and Director, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong and Conference Co-Chair, Hong Kong SAR

Note: Introduction in English, address in Putonghua. Click here to hear the introduction in Putongua and the address in English.

Fan Yijin is Dean of the School of Journalism at Jinan University, China.

Featuring:

Dr. Chu Shulong, Professor and Deputy Director, Institute of International Strategic and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, China

• Dr. Alexander Huang Chieh-Cheng, Professor, Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, Tamkang University; Senior Associate, International Security Program, Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS), Taipei

• Moderator and Panelist: Ambassador Ray Burghardt, Director, East-West Seminars, East-West Center; Chairman of the Board of Trustees, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), USA

“China’s media is on its way to openness, not smoothly though,” said Fan, the Dean of Journalism and Communication School of Guangzhou-based Jinan University.

Fan, a journalist since 1970, was a witness of China’s reform throughout his career at the liberal-minded Nanfang Media Group, based in Guangzhou in South China.

During his almost forty-year journalistic career in Nanfang Daily, his last post being the editor-in-chief, Fan observed the shift of the Chinese government’s attitude towards news reporting on domestic social problems.

“Since the 1980s, Southern Weekly, one of our newspapers, together with Focus the news program on CCTV, has served as the media watchdog for China’s reform and openness,” said Fan, who participated in founding the Southern Weekly and later led the of the Beijing News, both of which once hit a circulation of over one million.

However, Fan said he has experienced news suppression many times at Nanfang Media Group. “I am not a good journalist, but I protect good journalists. I am neither a capable person, but I have the capability to appoint capable ones,” he said.

As China entered its social transitional period in recent years, resulting in widening income disparities, the government once feared news reports on social problems, including a growing number of mass incidents, where peasants and workers staged sit-in demonstrations and even attacks on local authorities, according to Fan.

“Since the earthquake in Wenchuan in 2008, gradually the central government has been aware of the importance of information transparency,” Fan said.

“If traditional media don’t report, new media will,” he said. If Chinese media don’t report, foreign media will.”

Fan believes two trends made China’s media openness inevitable—market orientation and the emergence of new media, especially the micro-blog.

“In spite of the central government’s hope for media openness, governments on the local level as well as interest groups are still hindering disclosure of the truth,” Fan admitted.

Answering questions from the audience, Fan expressed little expectation for media legislation in China.

“We don’t have media law now, but even if there is it could only protect journalists or constrain them. And if it’s more on the latter, it would not be what we would like to hear.”

– Fu Lei, JMSC Student Conference Reporter