Falling Short Olympic Promises Go Unfulfilled as China Falters on Press Freedom A special report of the Committee to Protect Journalists Updated and reissued June 2008 Founded in 1981, the Committee to Protect Journalists responds to attacks on the press worldwide. CPJ documents hundreds of cases every year and takes action on behalf of journalists and news organizations without regard to po- litical ideology. To maintain its independence, CPJ accepts no government funding. CPJ is funded entirely by private contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Falling Short: Olympic Promises Go Unfulfilled as China Falters on Press Freedom Updated Edition Editorial Director: Bill Sweeney Deputy Editor: Lauren Wolfe Designer: Justin Goldberg Copy Editor: Barbara Ross Proofreader: Sebastian Dettman Cover photo credits: Clockwise from top left: newspaper reader (European Pressphoto Agency); police officer (Reuters); camera operator (Associated Press); flags (Reuters); scaffolding (European Pressphoto Agency); Olympic flame (European Press- photo Agency). Back cover: photographers (Associated Press). © 2008 Committee to Protect Journalists, New York All rights reserved. Printed by United Book Press in the United States of America. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Honorary Co-Chairman Chairman Honorary Co-Chairman Executive Director Walter Cronkite Paul E. Steiger Terry Anderson Joel Simon DIRECTORS Andrew Alexander Gwen Ifill Clarence Page Franz Allina Jane Kramer Norman Pearlstine Christiane Amanpour David Laventhol Dan Rather Dean Baquet David Marash Gene Roberts Rajiv Chandrasekaran Kati Marton Sandra Mims Rowe Sheila Coronel Michael Massing Diane Sawyer Josh Friedman Geraldine Fabrikant Metz Paul C. Tash Anne Garrels Victor Navasky Mark Whitaker James C. Goodale Andres Oppenheimer Brian Williams Cheryl Gould Burl Osborne Matthew Winkler Charlayne Hunter-Gault Charles L. Overby ADVISORY BOARD Tom Brokaw Steven L. Isenberg Anthony Lewis Erwin Potts John Seigenthaler About This Report he Committee to Protect Journalists, which first publishedFalling Short in August 2007, updated Tand reissued this report in June 2008. The bulk of the report was researched and written by Kristin Jones, former senior Asia research associate for CPJ, and Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program co- ordinator. Updating for this edition was led by Sophie Beach, executive editor of China Digital Times, and CPJ research associate Madeline Earp. In its bid to host the 2008 Games, China promised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that it would allow the media complete freedom. Yet CPJ research shows that domestic journalists face severe threats and restrictions, while foreign media are obstructed. In the months leading up to the Games, CPJ has repeatedly urged Chinese leaders, IOC officials, and corporate sponsors to ensure that Beijing fulfills its Olympic promises. This report describes press conditions in detail and makes known our recommendations for change. CPJ gratefully acknowledges the vital work of several contributing writers. Chapter 3, “Commerce and Control: The Media’s Evolution,” was written by David Bandurski, a freelance writer and media expert based in Hong Kong. Ashley Esarey, a political science professor at Middlebury College in Ver- mont who has written extensively about the Chinese media, wrote the Chapter 5 sidebar, “The Media Managers.” Esarey also provided guidance for Chapter 5, “Censorship at Work: The Newsroom in China.” Earp wrote the Chapter 8 sidebar, “Defending the Press.” The Chapter 9 sidebar, “Search Engines Sift and Censor,” was written by Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Xiao also provided guidance for Chapter 9, “Online Rules: A Study in Paradox.” Jonathan Watts, Beijing correspondent for The Guardian and member of the Foreign Correspondents Club of China, wrote Chapter 10, “Opportunity Dissolves: Foreign Media Still Obstructed.” Jocelyn Ford, who reports from Beijing for U.S. public radio programs, wrote the sidebar for that chapter, titled “Guidelines for Reporters on the Ground.” CPJ also wishes to acknowledge the important research by Benjamin Liebman of the Columbia University School of Law and Chen Zhiwu of the Yale University School of Management, which is cited in Chapter 7, “The Libel Card: Suits that Inhibit.” CPJ also acknowledges the valuable research conducted by the OpenNet Initiative, a partnership of four academic institutions, which is cited in Chapter 9. We are grateful to Li Datong for allowing us to reprint excerpts of his address to the Soci- ety of Publishers in Asia, and to Pu Zhiqiang for allowing use of his letter in defense of clients Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao. Translations of Chinese laws were provided by the law firm TransAsia and by the Congressional- Executive Commission on China. We are also grateful to Roland Soong, New Century Net, and Trans- Perfect for other translations used in this report. New Century Net graciously granted reprint rights to Cheng Yizhong’s 2005 remarks in acceptance of the 2005 Guillermo Cano Award. Soong’s blog, EastSouthWestNorth, was an important source throughout. Table of Contents Preface 1 Summary 8 2 Words and Deeds: Confronting the Contradictions 10 What They Said 12 3 Commerce and Control: The Media’s Evolution 14 Politics and the Press: A Timeline 15 4 Inwardly Restricted: Domestic Repression Remains 18 An Editor’s View: Tunneling Through Stone 21 5 Censorship at Work: The Newsroom in China 24 The Media Managers 26 Directing the News 29 6 Local Threats: The Bureaucrat’s Tyranny 31 Common Sense as a Weapon 32 7 The Libel Card: Suits That Inhibit 35 Waiting for a Verdict 36 8 ‘Secrets’ and Subversion: The Limits of Expression 38 Defending the Press 40 9 Online Rules: A Study in Paradox 42 Search Engines Sift and Censor 44 10 Opportunity Dissolves: Foreign Media Still Obstructed 46 Guidelines for Reporters on the Ground 47 11 Recommendations 50 12 Appendix I: Constitutional and International Guarantees 52 Article 35 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China 52 Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 52 Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 52 Appendix II: Media Law in China 53 Excerpts of the Regulations for the Administration of Publishing 53 Excerpts of the Regulations for the Administration of Radio and Television 55 Excerpts of the Provisional Rules for the Administration of Online Publishing 56 Excerpts of the Provisions on Administration of Internet News Information Services 58 Excerpts of the Secrecy Rules in Respect of News Publishing 60 Full Text of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets 61 Excerpts of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China 65 Excerpts of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Responding to Sudden Incidents 68 Full Text of the Regulations on Reporting Activities in China by Foreign Journalists During the Beijing Olympic Games and their Preparatory Period 68 Full Text of the Rules for Taiwan Reporters Reporting in the Mainland During the Beijing Olympic Games and their Preparatory Period 69 Full Text of the Rules for Hong Kong and Macau Reporters Reporting Inland During the Beijing Olympic Games and their Preparatory Period 70 Appendix III: Journalists Imprisoned in China 72 Preface hen this report first appeared, in August 2007, we expressed hope that China would honor the Olym- Wpic Games by fulfilling its pledge to free the media. But in the past 10 months, the government has instead tightened its control of the press. It is imperative that journalists at the Beijing Games be aware of the conditions faced by their colleagues in the world’s most populous country. For this reason, CPJ has updated and reissued Falling Short. Despite temporary rules promising them more access to ordinary Chinese citizens, foreign journal- ists find they are harassed and blocked from traveling to hot spots such as the Tibet and Xinjiang autono- mous regions. Some of the people these journalists interviewed were later questioned by police and jailed. Chinese journalists, while operating in an increasingly commercial environment, still work under the watchful eye of a censorship apparatus that issues daily, sometimes hourly, directives. Authorities boast of their efforts to monitor the flow of information across the Internet, even as high-speed Web access has brought more than 210 million users online. Since China was awarded the Olympics on July 13, 2001, dozens of journalists have been imprisoned for their work, and many remain behind bars today. As of May 1, at least 26 reporters and editors were be- ing held in Chinese prisons. Most have been jailed on vague security- related charges such as revealing state secrets or inciting sub- version. Relying on such catchall accusations, China has led the world in the number of imprisoned journalists since 1999. It is the failure of China and the International Olympic Committee to carry out the promises they made when the Games were awarded that prompted CPJ to write this report. In 2001, both sides assured the public that all journal- ists would have unrestricted freedom to cover the Games. Buoyed by Olympic ideals, China was supposed to ease its control of information and abandon its harsh punishment of those who work outside the system. That vision has not been realized. Visiting journalists may not be fully aware of the restrictions and pressures placed on their Chinese colleagues. Reporters who ven- Lhasa ture