FCCC statement on expulsions from China of journalists of three U.S. newspapers
This statement was released by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China on March 18, 2020.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China deplores the cancellation of reporting credentials for American journalists with three U.S. newspapers, an action that will affect at least 13 of our colleagues, a group of talented and dedicated professionals. The total number of affected journalists at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post could be higher, depending on how broadly Chinese authorities implement this decision.
Their imminent banishment from journalism in China diminishes us in number and in spirit, though not in our commitment to vigorously cover China. There are no winners in the use of journalists as diplomatic pawns by the world’s two pre-eminent economic powers. Journalists illuminate the world we live in. China, through this action, is dimming itself.
The FCCC also deeply regrets that authorities in Beijing have taken the further step of banning affected journalists from reporting in Hong Kong and Macau. The FCCC is not aware of any precedent for such a requirement.
Prior to today, China had expelled nine foreign journalists since 2013. Others have been denied visas altogether.
Since the beginning of 2019, at least 13 correspondents have also been given truncated-term visas with validity of six months or less. Since the beginning of 2020, three of those correspondents have been given one-month visas. Resident visas are typically issued for a year. By expelling journalists and keeping others in a state of visa uncertainty, China is overtly using its powers in an attempt to influence overseas news coverage, by punishing those who publish information authorities see as unfavorable and wish to keep quiet.
Foreign correspondents working in China are subject to surveillance and government pressure, in an environment of extreme hostility toward the types of factual reporting Chinese authorities claim to welcome. Such conduct is as unacceptable as it is longstanding.
In “Control, Halt, Delete,” the FCCC’s report on working conditions in 2019, 82% of surveyed correspondents said they experienced interference, harassment or violence while reporting; 70% reported the cancellation or withdrawal of interviews, which they know or believe to be due to actions taken by Chinese authorities; 25% were aware of sources being harassed, detained, called in for questioning, or otherwise suffering negative consequences for interacting with a foreign journalist; and 51% said they were obstructed at least once by police or other officials. Of those who reported from China’s north-western Xinjiang region, 65% were prevented from accessing locations by what they believe to be staged traffic accidents or road blockages.
Read the FCC Hong Kong’s statement on the expulsions of U.S. journalists
FCC statement on expulsions of U.S. journalists from China
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, is alarmed at the decision of the Chinese government to expel U.S. journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. The FCC is even more concerned by reports that they will be banned from working as journalists in Hong Kong, given that Hong Kong has its own system under which press freedom is a right according to the law.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed American journalists for the three news organisations whose press credentials are set to expire this year to “notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days”.
It added that the journalists “will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions”.
Under the Basic Law, all decisions about employment visas for foreign nationals in Hong Kong, including journalists, have been made independently by the Immigration Department.
If that system has changed, it would represent a serious erosion of the One Country, Two Systems principle.
The Hong Kong government must immediately clarify the situation and must immediately and without reservation provide assurances that foreign journalists working in Hong Kong and those applying to work in Hong Kong will continue to be issued employment visas without interference from the Chinese government.
‘Marked deterioration’ in conditions for foreign media in China: FCCC annual report
The Chinese government is using “visas as weapons” against foreign journalists on an unprecedented scale amid a marked deterioration in working conditions for international media, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) says in its annual report.
More than 80% of correspondents surveyed for the report say that they had experienced “interference, harassment or violence” while reporting. The three most sensitive coverage areas have been the Hong Kong protests, the situation in Xinjiang and any criticism of President Xi Jinping.
Correspondents have faced “harassment and intimidation” over their coverage of the protests in Hong Kong, including invasive checks on their belongings and equipment while crossing the border, the report says.
In the latest example of foreign media being targeted, three journalists from the Wall Street Journal were expelled in February over an opinion piece written by a columnist.
Correspondents reported increasing difficulty in obtaining visa renewals in 2019, with at least 12 receiving credentials valid for six months or less.
Expulsions and shortened visas are a “very ominous sign”, says Steven Lee Myers, Beijing bureau chief for the New York Times, according to the report. The government’s “desire for control, or their wariness of scrutiny, really gets in the way of the stories China does have to tell”.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China is a Beijing-based professional association comprising correspondents from more than 25 countries and regions. More than 100 FCC members responded to the FCCC survey that was carried out last December and formed the basis of the report’s findings.
The full report is published here.
FCCC Statement on the Expulsion of Three Wall Street Journal Correspondents
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China expresses its deep concern and strong condemnation over China’s decision to cancel the visas of three foreign correspondents from the Wall Street Journal’s Beijing bureau, in direct retaliation for an opinion article published by that newspaper, by an author based outside of China.
The WSJ’s deputy bureau chief Josh Chin and reporter Chao Deng, both Americans, as well as reporter Philip Wen, an Australian, have been ordered to leave the country in five days. None of the three had any involvement with the opinion article, or its headline, that China cited in their expulsion.
The action taken against The Journal correspondents is an extreme and obvious attempt by the Chinese authorities to intimidate foreign news organizations by taking retribution against their China-based correspondents.
Simultaneously revoking press credentials of three correspondents is an unprecedented form of retaliation against foreign journalists in China. China has not outright expelled a foreign correspondent since 1998, as far as the FCCC is aware.
The FCCC is now aware of nine journalists either expelled or effectively expelled (through non-renewal of visas) from China since 2013. China has evicted fair and talented journalists who have worked hard to bring unbiased, informative reports to their audiences and to understand China.
FCCC member correspondents and their colleagues in China are suffering from an increasing frequency of harassment, surveillance and intimidation from authorities. The expulsion of these three WSJ reporters is only the latest, and most alarming, measure authorities have taken.
Read the FCC Hong Kong statement here
FCC statement on expulsion of three Wall Street Journal staff from China
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, condemns the expulsion of three Wall Street Journal staff from China over the publication of an opinion column.
Deputy Bureau Chief Josh Chin and reporter Chao Deng, both Americans, and reporter Philip Wen, an Australian, have been given five days to leave the country.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that they were being expelled after the Journal refused to apologise for the publication on February 3 of an opinion piece entitled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia”. It was written by Global View columnist and Bard College professor Walter Russell Mead, Mead, and its headline has been widely criticized for being racist and insensitive.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang announced the expulsions at a news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
These unprecedented expulsions come at a time when journalists must be able to report freely on the COVID-19 outbreak without fear of being targeted in retaliation for coverage and comment on the epidemic.
Read the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China statement on the expulsion of three Wall Street Journal correspondents here
FCC statement on Hong Kong denying entry to the executive director of Human Rights Watch
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong expresses grave concern at the Hong Kong government’s decision to bar Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, from entering the territory. Roth was set to hold a news conference Jan. 15 at the FCC to release the rights group’s yearly report, which is critical of the Chinese government.
Roth, in a tweet, said he was not given an explicit reason for being unable to enter the city when he landed at Hong Kong International Airport. He was turned back and instead will launch the report in New York. Immigration authorities, in response to media inquiries, said that they cannot comment on individual cases.
The decision to deny Roth entry into Hong Kong follows a number of other cases that the FCC has been closely following, including that of a photography professor at a U.S. university, Matthew Connors, who was barred from entering Hong Kong earlier this month. Connors had been covering the protests and unrest in Hong Kong.
The FCC is concerned that the Hong Kong government is using the immigration department to act punitively against organisations and media representatives it does not agree with, which is a violation of the commitment to free expression and free speech in Hong Kong law. The immigration department’s lack of an explanation for Roth’s denial of entry is similar to their response after Victor Mallet, the former Asia news editor of the Financial Times and then 1st vice president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, was denied entry into Hong Kong in 2018. At the time, the FCC warned that this sort of treatment and lack of explanation appeared to be making a weapon of visas and violated press freedom rights in Hong Kong law, yet was assured that this wasn’t the case and that Hong Kong still upholds these values.
The FCC will continue to advocate for unfettered access for the media to freely cover the unrest in Hong Kong. As the Secretary for Home Affairs said recently in response to a question from a legislator, press freedom is “Hong Kong’s core value protected by the Basic Law and is the fundamental right enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong.”
He added: “The Government is firmly committed to safeguarding and respecting press freedom, and providing a suitable environment in which the media could exert its function as the fourth estate.” We call on the Hong Kong government to honour this promise.
FCC President Jodi Schneider’s op-ed on press freedom is published in the LA Times
This op-ed on press freedom in Hong Kong, written by the club’s president, Jodi Schneider, will appear in the print edition of the LA Times on December 20. It is available to view on the LA Times website here.
Two deaths. Hundreds injured. More than 10,000 rounds of tear gas and half as many rubber bullets fired. More than six months of unrest. People and businesses are leaving Hong Kong as anti-government protests disrupt a city long praised for efficiency, ease of doing business and its retention of basic freedoms — including press freedom — that are nonexistent across the border in mainland China.
Amplifying this city’s deep-seated tensions is a surge of conspiracy theories and disinformation, which fuel the escalating violence. Public trust in the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s leaders, police and public institutions has been ruptured possibly beyond repair — as shown by the record-high turnout of voters in recent local elections supporting pro-democracy candidates. The vote was widely considered a referendum on the government’s handling of the protests.
Journalists have often worked under enormous pressure and in difficult conditions to cover these rapidly unfolding events. Yet rather than being respected as impartial witnesses attempting to bring light to facts, reporters have found themselves under attack while covering the protests and the police response.
The media have become part of the story as Hong Kong’s once-vaunted press freedom has been severely impaired.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong has sought to keep track of multiple incidents in recent months in which reporters were injured or obstructed by police while covering the unrest.
Veby Mega Indah, a reporter for an Indonesian-language newspaper, lost sight in one eye after police shot her in the face with a rubber bullet while she was covering a protest. Police forced May James, a prominent photojournalist, to remove a gas mask and jailed her overnight after she did not show her local ID — to a policeman whose identity was obscured. A driver working for Hong Kong’s largest pay-TV operator was hit by a police projectile, detained and left with a broken jaw after being beaten by police. A journalist with the online site Stand News has been diagnosed with a skin condition that has been linked to tear gas.
Tear gas is often fired close to — or directly at — journalists. Press access was restricted at a major university where protesters were in a standoff with police. And police have taken to deliberately shining flashlights and flashing strobe lights at journalists to obstruct them from taking pictures and video.
The attacks on the press have occurred even though journalists are clearly identified. They wear helmets and bright yellow vests emblazoned with “PRESS” and present press identification to police officers.
These events, many of them documented via video or livestreamed, have made it clear that journalists — including student reporters — are being targeted. There have been too many instances for them to be accidental or coincidence. It appears that a deliberate effort is being made to prevent independent reporting of events, and police in Hong Kong increasingly do not want their actions seen or recorded.
Amid the escalating violence, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club has been trying to help journalists in the city, including local reporters and foreign correspondents. My fellow club members and I held a series of practical workshops on things that most journalists in Hong Kong probably have not encountered — how to use milk or a saline solution to douse their eyes after being exposed to tear gas or wash away the blue dye used to identify protesters, how to resist unlawful police demands and how to secure a digital footprint so sources won’t be compromised. Videos of the workshop series have been made available online.
Board members of the correspondents’ club met with Hong Kong police officials to discuss how to improve press-police relations. Our recommendations included making sure police officers are easily identifiable and asking police to refrain from shining lights directly at news photographers and camera operators.
The protests present unprecedented challenges to the Hong Kong media, which have not faced this level of violence since communist-led protests against British colonial rule in the 1960s. The media are simply trying to do their job, which they have a right to do under Hong Kong law.
The United Nations provides a framework for maintaining good relations between the police and the press, which says the public has a right to observe and examine police actions. Journalists are the public’s witnesses. The police have a duty to maintain public order, yet also to be subject to public scrutiny. They should expect the media to take photographs and video, and not interfere with reporting. Security forces have neither the authority nor the legitimacy to impose limits on freedom of the press, according to U.N. protocols.
As U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this year in defense of the world’s press: “Informing is not a crime.”
Hong Kong press freedom has been additionally challenged in recent years since more outlets have been bought by media owners with ties to mainland China, where the press is heavily censored and controlled by the Chinese government. Still, most foreign and local media outlets maintain their independence. Historically, they have helped keep public authorities and business figures accountable without fear for their safety or interference by authorities.
If that spirit slips away in Hong Kong, it could embolden other authoritarian-minded governments and world leaders to discredit the crucial role the press plays in societies around the world. The increasing danger facing journalists here is a threat to press freedom everywhere.
Jodi Schneider is president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong.
FCC Statement Condemning Obstruction of Press Coverage at PolyU Standoff
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong condemns the efforts by police officers to obstruct press coverage of protests over the weekend, particularly during a tense and violent standoff at Polytechnic University.
The FCC considers this a serious breach of press freedom and the right of the media under Hong Kong law to cover the protests free of intimidation or violence.
First-hand reports from journalists covering the standoff between police and anti-government protesters and students at PolyU relayed accounts of journalists being barred from free entry and exit. Some journalists were searched and asked for their identification as they left, amid police warnings that they could be arrested if they didn’t provide a valid press ID.
In other instances, journalists were barred from entering the university and told if they entered they would be subject to riot charges. In one case, three student reporters from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology tried to leave the campus grounds through an exit suggested by the police and were instructed not to leave or they would risk being fired upon.
The FCC also calls on the police to conduct a thorough investigation of a police officer who allegedly targeted a journalist in Mong Kok this weekend with a sponge grenade. Police said the officer was put on leave and that they are investigating the incident.
We again call for an independent investigation into police violence against journalists and any interference with the media’s right under Hong Kong law to cover the unrest. The FCC urges that any investigation should be transparent.
Nov. 18, 2019
FCC Statement Expressing Concern Over Attack on Xinhua News Agency Offices
The FCC expresses its grave concern over the attack against the Hong Kong offices of Xinhua News Agency during last weekend’s protests. News organisations and their journalists must be able to work in Hong Kong free of fear of attack and intimidation, which is essential to preserving freedom of the press.
The FCC is also looking into reports of journalists arrested over the weekend and will comment further when more information has been made available.
The FCC reiterates its call for an independent investigation into police violence against journalists and interference with the media’s right to cover the protests under Hong Kong law. The FCC urges that such an inquiry be thorough and transparent.