Journalists should be allowed to report accurately from China. But China’s tyrannical media policy is taking a turn for the worse. If honest journalists could report on China from Hong Kong, that would be great. But realistically, that’s not happening.
What solution could there be? I mean, it’s obvious.
Taiwan should step up and provide a platform for global media to report on China, from Taiwan. Back when I was a young lad, that’s exactly what we had here. Why can’t we do it again?
The below is from Bill Bishop’s daily –
China Takes Countermeasures Against Restrictive Measures on Chinese Media Agencies in the US
China hereby announces the following measures, effective immediately:
First, in response to the US designation of five Chinese media agencies as “foreign missions”, China demands, in the spirit of reciprocity, that the China-based branches of Voice of America, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Time declare in written form information about their staff, finance, operation and real estate in China.
Second, in response to the US slashing the staff size of Chinese media outlets in the US, which is expulsion in all but name, China demands that journalists of US citizenship working with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose press credentials are due to expire before the end of 2020 notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days. They will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.
Third, in response to the discriminatory restrictions the US has imposed on Chinese journalists with regard to visa, administrative review and reporting, China will take reciprocal measures against American journalists.
The above-mentioned measures are entirely necessary and reciprocal countermeasures that China is compelled to take in response to the unreasonable oppression the Chinese media organizations experience in the US. They are legitimate and justified self-defense in every sense. What the US has done is exclusively targeting Chinese media organizations, and hence driven by a Cold War mentality and ideological bias.
中方上述措施完全是对美方无理打压中国媒体驻美机构被迫进行的必要对等反制，完全是正当合理防卫。美方有关做法专门针对中国媒体，是基于冷战思维和意识形态偏见，严重损害中国媒体的声誉和形象，严重影响中国媒体在美正常运作，严重干扰中美正常人文交流，暴露其自我标榜的所谓“新闻自由”的虚伪性。中方敦促美方立即改弦更张、纠正错误，停止对中国媒体的政治打压和无理限制。如果美方一意孤行，错上加错，中方也必将采取进一步的反制措施。
China Announces That It Will Expel American Journalists - The New York Times
Most of the American reporters for the three news organizations named in the Tuesday announcement have press cards and visas or residence permits that expire this year. The press cards are needed to maintain the visas, and turning them in effectively means the journalists would need to leave the country shortly afterward. Reporters who were recently given a press card and residence permit that do no expire until 2021 can presumably continue to work…
the fact that Beijing is preventing the expelled reporters from reporting from Hong Kong and Macau, two semiautonomous areas, is a sign of the further erosion of press freedoms in those territories, and it could portend clampdowns on foreign newsrooms in Hong Kong.
“We unequivocally condemn any action by China to expel U.S. reporters,” said Martin Baron, executive editor of The Post. “The Chinese government’s decision is particularly regrettable because it comes in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis, when clear and reliable information about the international response to covid-19 is essential. Severely limiting the flow of that information, which China now seeks to do, only aggravates the situation.”
China takes direct aim at rumormongering US media - Global Times
The New York Times is also among the Western media which cover China stories with double standard and biased practices.
Its contradictory comments on the lockdown policies of China and Italy sparked criticism among Chinese public, in which it praised Italy’s action as it’s “risking its economy in an effort to contain Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak.” However, the post showed a different stance from its other tweet 20 minutes ago that claimed the lockdown in China “came at great cost for its people’s livelihoods and personal liberties.”
The New York Times’ coverage of the outbreak aiming to attack China’s political system and smear China’s effort to treat novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) patients is unprofessional, biased and even inhuman, Chinese experts said, urging biased Western media to stop ignoring Chinese efforts in medical care and protection of the people’s lives.