China is relaxing decades-old restrictions on foreign reporters, announcing new regulations yesterday that will give foreign media greater freedom to travel and report in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The regulations, which come into force on Jan. 1, temporarily abolish onerous requirements that currently prohibit foreign reporters from traveling or conducting interviews, even with ordinary Chinese, without government approval. Under the new rules, only the consent of the interview subject is needed.
"It is crystal clear that as long as the interviewee agrees, you can do your reporting," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (
The new rules mark a surprising step forward in addressing a major concern for the Olympic movement and international media: how China, with its penchant for heavy-handed policing and censorship, will deal with the 20,000 foreign media staff expected in Beijing for the Games.
"In general, this is progress in terms of liberalizing the conditions under which foreign journalists work in China," said Melinda Liu, (劉美遠) president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCC) and Beijing bureau chief for Newsweek, the US magazine.
Significant questions remain about China's reporting environment. China is the world's largest jailer of journalists, with 32 known journalists in prison as of Jan. 1.
Police retain broad powers to halt coverage by reporters. Foreign reporters have been frequently detained for reporting on a range of topics, from AIDS epidemics in the countryside to protests by urban workers. The new Olympic regulations, as well, contain loopholes and expire on Oct. 17, 2008, a month after the Paralympics end.
In a sign of the severe limits on press freedom, a Beijing court yesterday upheld a three-year prison term for fraud against Zhao Yan (
Zhao was arrested after the Times broke word on Communist Party political maneuvering, though his case has been seen as retribution for his pre-Times career as a crusading investigative reporter.
Still, the new Olympics regulations underscore China's desire to use the Beijing Games as a coming-out party and show the world that it is drawing closer to international practices.
International Olympic Committee officials have privately described arduous negotiations over media rules and credentials. Beijing had repeatedly insisted, for one, that reporters answer questions about their religious affiliation in order to gain accreditation -- an apparent attempt to weed out members of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that the government has violently suppressed as a cult.
Liu, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the government knows that reporters won't limit their coverage to sports. He broadly interpreted the new rules, which cover reporting on the Games "and related matters," to give foreign media expanded license.
"Foreign journalists will not limit their activities to the Games themselves. They will also cover politics, science, technology and the economy," Liu said. "The `related matters' ... actually expands the areas on which foreign journalists can report."
Liu acknowledged that implementation would not be friction-free. He said the Foreign Ministry, starting yesterday afternoon, would begin briefing central and local government departments on the regulations and urged foreign journalists to contact his office when troubles occur.
Though officials should no longer question reporters as they travel in China, Liu said that police would still have the authority to intervene, especially during emergencies, protests and other incidents "that suddenly arise."
"They will not ask what you are doing there unless there are concerns in terms of public interest and social order," Liu said.
Separate rules under discussion by the government could ban reporting on protests, epidemics and natural disasters and levy fines on offending reporters.
"We welcome the new regulations," said Liu from the FCC. "However, we believe that the liberalization should be permanent, not temporary."
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