South China Morning Post Denies Assertions
By Philip P. Pan
The Washington Post
BEIJING, April 30 Hong Kong’s top English-language
newspaper has fired its Beijing bureau chief after he
complained that editors were softening the paper’s
coverage of China. The dismissal immediately renewed
concerns about the erosion of press freedom in the
former British colony now under Chinese rule.
Jasper Becker, 45, a respected journalist who has
written three books about China, was abruptly
dismissed by the South China Morning Post on Monday
just weeks after he complained to Post editor Thomas
Abraham that the paper was restricting his reporting
and playing down sensitive subjects such as Tibet,
labor unrest and AIDS.
“I feel deep regret. A few years ago, the paper’s
China coverage was something to be proud of,” Becker
said today after cleaning out his office, where
management had already ordered the locks changed. “Now
they want to ingratiate themselves with the Chinese
authorities. They feel that’s in their best interest,
both their political interest and commercial
interest.”
The South China Morning Post has made no secret of its
ambition to expand by publishing Chinese-language
magazines and one day launching an English-language
paper in the mainland ventures that would require
approval from Beijing. The paper’s majority owner,
tycoon Robert Kuok, also has substantial business
interests both in the mainland and Hong Kong.
A spokeswoman for the newspaper, Swee Lynn Chong, said
Becker was fired for “insubordination, refusing to
work under and report to the China editor,” and
nothing else. She said the paper remained committed to
aggressive reporting on China, and if anything, had
expanded its coverage, adding two pages of mainland
news in the past two years.
“I don’t care what Jasper is saying,” she said. “He
has never been prevented from reporting and publishing
sensitive stories.”
[b]Becker is the latest in a series of independent-minded
journalists to leave the Post. Willy Lo-Lap Lam, a
prominent columnist known for his insider tales of
Communist Party intrigue, complained he was being
muzzled and quit in December 2000. The paper’s op-ed
editor, Danny Gittings, was laid off several months
later.
The departures follow a period from 1995 to 1999 when
then-Post editor Jonathan Fenby said Kuok and other
executives repeatedly pressured him to dismiss
journalists and make the paper friendlier to both
Beijing and the new Hong Kong government.[/b]
While Hong Kong is home to more than a dozen daily
newspapers and at least six commercial TV and radio
stations, all of which operate without direct
government control, there is growing concern among
journalists about self-censorship.
“It’s very worrying,” said Cliff Bale, a member of the
Hong Kong Journalist Association’s executive
committee. “We see a trend of more critical
journalists either resigning, being forced out or
sacked. In a lot of areas, the Hong Kong media remains
free. But in sensitive areas to China Taiwan, Tibet,
dissidents, the inner workings of the Party I think
there is a trend to exercise caution.”
Beijing promised “a high degree of autonomy” for Hong
Kong when it regained sovereignty of the territory in
1997. But Hong Kong is preparing to enact legislation
to outlaw subversion against China, and many
journalists are worried that some reporting could be
prohibited under the act. One Chinese official has
already warned Hong Kong media not to report on
viewpoints supporting independence for Taiwan, which
Beijing considers part of China.
Becker said he complained to Abraham after months of
difficulties with the paper’s China editor, Wang
Xiangwei, who was appointed in late 2000 and once
worked for Beijing’s state-controlled China Daily. He
said Wang blocked a reporting trip to Tibet and
coverage of a protest by AIDS patients, among other
moves to downplay sensitive stories.
Becker also said the paper had been under pressure by
the Chinese government to replace its reporters in
Beijing with Chinese staff from Hong Kong a charge
the paper also denied.
