Freedom of the Press, Beijing Style
Summary
Beijing is investigating local government officials in Jiangxi and
Zhejiang provinces for punishing journalists who exposed problems
in their jurisdictions, according to the official Shanghai Star
Feb. 29. The move by Beijing to protect newspapers that criticize
local problems is part of a larger goal of countering corruption
and monitoring the acts of local officials. In doing so, Beijing is
playing a risky game that could further stress relations between
central and local governments. Beyond that, the press may take its
mandate too far, targeting the very top officials now offering
their protection. While Beijing is allowing more freedom of the
press to keep local officials in check, it will draw the line at
attacking the central government or the communist system.
Analysis
Beijing is investigating officials in Leping county in Jiangxi
province and Fuyang county in Zhejiang province for wrongful
punishment of journalists, according to the official Shanghai Star
Feb. 29. In separate incidents, local officials took steps to
punish a newspaper photographer and a reporter who exposed illegal
activities within their jurisdictions.
In defending the actions of the journalists, Beijing is
demonstrating its support for local media to act as a watchdog for
corruption and mismanagement. While this will serve as a valuable
tool in monitoring the activities of local leaders and emphasizing
central control over the local governments, it should not be
misread as a newfound government commitment to freedom of the
press. Rather, if journalists go too far, digging into corruption
at higher levels, they will swiftly be silenced.
The Shanghai Star report cited the case of a news photographer from
Leping, who was fired from his newspaper and sent to work in a
factory after his photographs appeared in the official People's
Daily accompanying a report on schoolchildren involved in public
gambling. The report also indicated that Fuyang government
officials had a reporter fired and sent to work in a paint factory
after he wrote on illegal industrial operations in the county.
Officials in both cases are now under investigation, according to
the report, and the Fuyang reporter has returned to his job at the
newspaper.
In addition to print media, Beijing is also freeing up television
to investigate government corruption. The China Central Television
(CCTV) program Focal Point, of which Prime Minister Zhu Rongji is
reportedly an "enthusiastic viewer," routinely exposes corruption,
mismanagement and irregular behavior of Party cadre. In October
1998, Zhu even presented CCTV with a scroll calling for the media
to be "a mirror and watchdog of the government and a supervisor of
government through public opinion."
The Shanghai Star report is intended to signal other local
newspapers that Beijing is willing to protect the media's right and
responsibility to investigate and expose government corruption.
This, in turn, is part of Beijing's larger anti-corruption
campaign, which focuses on keeping regional or local governments
from gaining too much influence and slipping from Beijing's
control.
While the optimal outcome would be for local leaders to reform and
fall in line with Beijing to avoid humiliation and public
criticism, the plan may instead only fuel the smoldering distrust
between the center and the regions. Public criticism campaigns in
the past have often been precursors or tools of purges, notably
during the Cultural Revolution when students of the Red Guard
verbally attacked provincial, regional and even central communist
leaders.
In addition, the empowerment of the media offers an outlet for
disgruntled citizens to practice key tenets of the Chinese
Communist Party - group criticism and self-criticism. This offers
alternatives to increasingly common demonstrations and protests
targeting local government officials and managers of state-owned
enterprise for supporting questionable investment schemes and
failing to pay salaries and pensions.
stratfor.com
While Beijing is offering more freedom to the media, it is not
granting unlimited powers to the press. China's Press and
Publications Administration reportedly investigated 27 newspapers
in January alone for violating rules and incorrect reporting. In
addition, the chief editor of the Southern Weekend, a weekly from
Guangdong province known for investigations into corrupt or unfit
officials, was transferred to the business section of the paper.
The protection Beijing is offering domestic journalists to expose
corruption and be the "vanguard of reform" will not remain if the
journalists overextend their mandate. As with the Democracy Wall
movement of the late 1970s - when public criticism was encouraged -
it can only be allowed so far before it interferes with the central
authority of the Communist Party and Beijing. However, Beijing is
counting on the media campaign to both enforce greater centralized
control and offer a release valve for citizens who are taking their
frustration and dissatisfaction to the streets. The central
government is allowing more latitude and protection from local
officials, but if the media turns its sights on Beijing it will be
swiftly silenced.
(c) 2000, Stratfor, Inc. stratfor.com
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