(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter today to Din Guangen, head of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department, RSF expressed concern about the pressure on Qian Gang and Chang Ping, respectively editor-in-chief and front page news editor of the newspaper “Southern Weekend”. The organisation asked for explanations regarding the dismissal of Qian […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter today to Din Guangen, head of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department, RSF expressed concern about the pressure on Qian Gang and Chang Ping, respectively editor-in-chief and front page news editor of the newspaper “Southern Weekend”. The organisation asked for explanations regarding the dismissal of Qian Gang and Chang Ping. “If it is confirmed that the two journalists are victims of pressure by the authorities, this would be a flagrant violation of press freedom in this country,” declared Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general.
According to information collected by RSF, Chang Ping, front page news editor of “Southern Weekend”, was removed from the newspaper’s editorial staff because he was allegedly ill and unable to work. Qian Gang, editor-in-chief of the same newspaper, was reportedly transferred to another position within the group that publishes “Southern Weekend”. According to the British daily “Financial Times”, in its 4 June 2001 edition, and the American daily “Herald Tribune”, in its edition 6 June edition, these dismissals are probably due to pressure exerted by the Chinese authorities on the journalists. They were accused of publishing an article linking the corruption of government officials to economic difficulties in rural areas. They also criticised the harsh detention conditions in labour camps suggesting that this could have negative psychological consequences on convicts and incite them to have criminal behaviour.
“Southern Weekend” is one of the newspapers that is most critical of the regime. In March, it opposed the government’s line in stating that the death of forty children in a school in Jiangxi province was linked with the fact they were forced to make fireworks. In January, Jiang Yiping, editor-in-chief of “Southern Weekend”, was forced to leave her post after the publication of an article on the death of a senior Communist party official that the family considered defamatory.
