It must be noted that Australian reporter, Cheng Lei and Chinese national, Haze Fan have been detained for over a year over allegations of being involved in state security cases.
NEW DELHI:
Following a report by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC), China, a group representing foreign journalists in the country, media freedom in China is declining at “breakneck speed”, which stated that journalists face physical assaults, hacking, online trolling and visa denials.
Along with targeting local journalists in mainland China and Hong Kong, the country has labelled the FCC an “illegal organisation”.
This comes in the wake of world media turning their attention to the Beijing Winter Olympics, already under scrutiny for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and a crackdown in Hong Kong.
According to the report, severe harassment by the state has caused a handful of correspondents to leave mainland China, while others have been forced to come up with emergency exit plans as a precautionary measure.
As part of intimidation tactic by the authorities, families of Chinese colleagues of foreign reporters have also been harassed.
It must be noted that Australian reporter, Cheng Lei and Chinese national Haze Fan have been detained for over a year over allegations of being involved in state security cases.
Continued zero-Covid policies, staffing issues, rising geopolitical tensions, growing mistrust, and at times outright hostility towards Western media in China create a perfect storm,” the BBC quoted an editor of the report. (IANS)