Chinese Media Asserting Their Rights
While critical media types in China are still subjected to pressure if not repression, there are clear indications that many of them are fighting back and asserting their rights.
In April 2004, Jiao Guobiao (pictured), a professor at the School of Journalism and Communications at Peking University posted an article on the internet attacking the excesses of the Department of Propaganda (DOP), including its blatant abuse of power and endemic corruption.
Jiao also suggested that the Department be scrapped. He was subsequently pressured to resign in March 2005. according to Lye Liang Fook in The Party and the Media: Control versus Change. (In Interpreting China's Development, Ed. Wang Gungwu and John Wong, World Scientific Publishing 2007).
But the scenario is somewhat different for Bingdian, a weekly publication of the highly-regarded China Youth Daily.
In January 2006. Bingdian carried a controversial article on history textbooks in China.
In the article, author, Yuan Weishi, a retired college professor of philosophy from Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University offered his interpretation of how past historical events such as the razing of the Summer Palace by the Anglo-French forces and the Second Opium War could have been avoided.
"The thrust of Yuan's article was that instead of putting the blame entirely on the foreign invaders, the Chinese side ought to bear some responsibility for these events. The DOP's response was to suspend the publication and remove Li Datong and Lu Yuegang , the publication's respective Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief," Lye wrote.
Lye added that instead of relenting, Li and Yu lashed out at propaganda officials and championed free speech in a letter posted on the internet. A group of scholars also publicly denounced the crackdown as a violation of China's constitution and reminded top leaders of their promise of a consistent rule of law.
Eventually, Bingdian was allowed to resume publication on 1 March 2006, but without its two editors.
Most recently, in January 2007, renowned writer Zhang Yihe publicly challenged the General Administration of Press and Publication, demanding an explanation as to why her book was banned.
Zhang's book was about the suffering endured by seven Peking opera actors during the Cultural Revolution. But her book was banned not because of its content but because she was the daughter of Zhang Bojun, the key target of Mao Zedong's anti-rightist campaign in 1957.
Zhang had vowed to defend her constitutional rights to free speech and publication. Other writers within and outside of China also publicly supported her.
As Lye concluded: "This is yet another example of individuals appealing to the constitution and other legal means to safeguard their rights."
In April 2004, Jiao Guobiao (pictured), a professor at the School of Journalism and Communications at Peking University posted an article on the internet attacking the excesses of the Department of Propaganda (DOP), including its blatant abuse of power and endemic corruption.
Jiao also suggested that the Department be scrapped. He was subsequently pressured to resign in March 2005. according to Lye Liang Fook in The Party and the Media: Control versus Change. (In Interpreting China's Development, Ed. Wang Gungwu and John Wong, World Scientific Publishing 2007).
But the scenario is somewhat different for Bingdian, a weekly publication of the highly-regarded China Youth Daily.
In January 2006. Bingdian carried a controversial article on history textbooks in China.
In the article, author, Yuan Weishi, a retired college professor of philosophy from Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University offered his interpretation of how past historical events such as the razing of the Summer Palace by the Anglo-French forces and the Second Opium War could have been avoided.
"The thrust of Yuan's article was that instead of putting the blame entirely on the foreign invaders, the Chinese side ought to bear some responsibility for these events. The DOP's response was to suspend the publication and remove Li Datong and Lu Yuegang , the publication's respective Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief," Lye wrote.
Lye added that instead of relenting, Li and Yu lashed out at propaganda officials and championed free speech in a letter posted on the internet. A group of scholars also publicly denounced the crackdown as a violation of China's constitution and reminded top leaders of their promise of a consistent rule of law.
Eventually, Bingdian was allowed to resume publication on 1 March 2006, but without its two editors.
Most recently, in January 2007, renowned writer Zhang Yihe publicly challenged the General Administration of Press and Publication, demanding an explanation as to why her book was banned.
Zhang's book was about the suffering endured by seven Peking opera actors during the Cultural Revolution. But her book was banned not because of its content but because she was the daughter of Zhang Bojun, the key target of Mao Zedong's anti-rightist campaign in 1957.
Zhang had vowed to defend her constitutional rights to free speech and publication. Other writers within and outside of China also publicly supported her.
As Lye concluded: "This is yet another example of individuals appealing to the constitution and other legal means to safeguard their rights."
posted by Maria Siow @ 9:41 PM
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