Buried in an article about harassment of foreign reporters in China was this:
Conditions have improved, according to two reports issued in the last week by Human Rights Watch and the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. But both reports concluded that the government has not lived up to its promise and that reporters continue to face harassment, detention and stonewalling, especially in rural areas of the country where officials are either unaware of the new rules or ignore them.
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What is ALWAYS ignored, in China the central government does not have the strangle hold on the provinces and local officials like the western press assumes. That to change age old practices of harassment of the news media will not happen overnight.
The provinces in China are autonomous, in some respect even more so then in the states. That when Beijing hands down an edict or law, it does not mean the local officials are going to go lock step.
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Beijing accused of unfair play
8-7-2007
China does it all by itself.
Comment by rhcpizno1 — April 1, 2006 @ 5:23 am
So you are saying that suppression of free press is pervasive in China, not just the product of the central government?
And you think this is less bad than only having the central government suppress this freedom?
It sounds to me like China still has quite a way to go, before there is free communication.
You are right to let us know, of course, that the situation in China is more complex than we might imagine.
Comment by The First Dragon — April 3, 2006 @ 3:34 pm
I don’t think the Western media is engaging in slander. To do that they would have to proceed from a base of knowledge concerning the target of their slander. That simply is not the case. Most reporters in the West are woefully ignorant of China. They believe the Communist Party’s tentacles reach everywhere in the Middle Kingdom. And they filter events in China through an ethno-centric western prism.
The Tien An Men Square massacre several years ago is a prime example. None of the western media types covering this ever mentioned that the one thing which first brought the students into the square was a decision by the Education Ministry. That ministry was going to reduce the monthly financial stipend given to students by 20%. Money used to buy food. A clear violation of Mao’s doctrine of the “Iron Rice Bowl” where no one would go hungry ever again. A doctrine established as the first human right in China.
Comment by desertviking_00 — April 6, 2006 @ 10:08 pm
I guess we are just tired of our pets dying, from bad dog food, our mouths contaminated by bad toothpaste and lead paint that covers the toys our children play with and sometimes mouth. China is a greedy country and needs to police its exports better.
Comment by Opinionated — April 9, 2006 @ 12:59 am