(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, RSF protested the ban against foreign media visiting the village of Fanglin, which was introduced after a 6 March 2001 explosion inside a school that killed at least thirty-eight children. RSF stated that the detention of several journalists and photographers who tried to cover […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, RSF protested the ban against foreign media visiting the village of Fanglin, which was introduced after a 6 March 2001 explosion inside a school that killed at least thirty-eight children. RSF stated that the detention of several journalists and photographers who tried to cover the accident is a violation of their right to inform and a serious obstacle to the free flow of information. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, noted that the Chinese government’s position demonstrates “the intention to obscure the Communist authorities’ responsibility for this tragedy.” Ménard expressed indignation at the position of the prime minister, who “imposed on the state-controlled media an official version of the circumstances surrounding the explosion that is completely at variance with the victims’ families’ testimonies.”
According to information obtained by RSF, dozens of foreign journalists, photographers and television crews, as well as some Chinese reporters, were forbidden from visiting Fanglin. The village, where an explosion in an illegal fireworks factory inside a school killed at least thirty-eight pupils and four teachers, is located in the southern province of Jiangxi. Security forces and provincial officials set up roadblocks around the village and banned press from entering the area. At least three reporters, including Agence France-Presse journalist Phil Chetwynd, were detained for several hours and then forcibly escorted to the nearest town.
These events occurred while Prime Minister Zhu Rongji was presenting an official version of the explosion to the press. His version of events was immediately repeated by the official news agency, Xinhua, and several of the leading state-controlled media outlets. The prime minister blamed the explosion on a “deranged” and “suicidal” man, identified by the police, who allegedly entered the school with a bag filled with explosives. This version of the story contradicted what dozens of Fanglin villagers told reporters over the telephone. The father of one of the victims said that “the government is trying to cover up the facts. Please don’t believe them. Our children were forced to make fireworks during their lunch breaks.” The illegal factory was apparently organised by one of the teachers whose son is secretary of the village’s communist party.
This serious threat to the right to inform comes only a couple of weeks after threats were made against foreign media investigating the 23 January immolation of alleged members of Falun Gong in Tianamen Square. Police interrogated half a dozen journalists from CNN, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse, accusing them of being Falun Gong’s accomplices. Government-controlled newspapers accused the three media outlets of encouraging the immolation and threatened foreign journalists with “murder” charges. A CNN spokesman confirmed that one of his crews was detained on 23 January in the area near Tianamen Square, and their videotapes were confiscated by police.
