(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter sent to the governor of Gansu province, Song Zhaosu, RSF protested the heavy sanctions imposed on three journalists from the state-owned dailies “Lanzhou Ribao” and “Lanzhou Wanbao” for having violated “news discipline”. Two journalists were fired and an editor was demoted by Communist Party leaders in Gansu province for having […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter sent to the governor of Gansu province, Song Zhaosu, RSF protested the heavy sanctions imposed on three journalists from the state-owned dailies “Lanzhou Ribao” and “Lanzhou Wanbao” for having violated “news discipline”. Two journalists were fired and an editor was demoted by Communist Party leaders in Gansu province for having investigated, without permission, the explosion of a military truck in Xinjiang province. RSF asked the governor to use his influence with the competent authorities in order to immediately lift the sanctions taken against the three journalists. “These arbitrary firings show that it is impossible for Chinese journalists to inform Chinese citizens freely,” noted Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “Among the eleven journalists presently jailed in China, some are in jail for having tried to investigate affairs avoided by the official media,” added Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, three journalists, including Yang Xiaofeng, editor-in-chief of “Lanzhou Ribao” (Lanzhou Daily) and “Lanzhou Wanbao” (Lanzhou Evening), were recently sanctioned by the head of the Chinese Communist Party (PPC) of Gansu (north-west region). The authorities accuse Yang of having sent two journalists to investigate the explosion of a military truck in September 2000, in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province (more than 1,500 kilometres west of Lanzhou). The explosion (the origin of which is still unknown) killed more than 70 people and injured 300 in this region troubled by the Uygur separatist movement. The two journalists were investigating the circumstances of the explosion and had revealed that a military truck transported explosives through busy city areas despite legislation forbidding it. This information was published by several newspapers in the country. By contrast, the official Xinhua news agency did not report the circumstances of the explosion.
On 11 August, three journalists from the Zuhai public television station were fired by the authorities for failing to remove a picture of the Beijing Spring massacre from documentary footage (see IFEX alert of 14 August 2000).
