More than just a game

Countless tourists came to Beijing from all over the world last year to witness an event that the Chinese hoped would be a coming of age ceremony for the country. A chance to show how far China had come in recent years socially, economically and politically—it was, in short, to be a proclamation of the nation’s modernity.

And in many ways it was. The opening ceremony was hailed as an example of the country’s innate ability to motivate and deliver, and China’s impressive medal tally demonstrated the drive to compete and win. But despite such display of development, the West—and especially its press—has remained critical of the powerhouse in the East.

Issues such as the environment, political oppression, excessive security and land tenure, among others, are always on the lips of international pressure groups.

However, time and again one issue has proved itself to be one of the most contentious: freedom of speech and the press.

Like it or not, China is an authoritarian system and still fines, fires or imprisons members of the press who cross the line.

According to Amnesty International, in 2007 China had more journalists imprisoned than anywhere else in the world and, in the run up to the Olympics, it further “intensified” its efforts of media control.

So it’s no understatement to say that China has a patchy record with the press—both foreign and domestic—and critics are often quick to cite numerous examples where the Chinese government falls short.

On 8 August—the day the Olympics opened—Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Parliament, wrote in the Guardian that China was a “terror state” and that there was “no freedom of expression” in the country.

Of course, McMillan-Scott’s argument is not invalid. The Chinese government does not have the best history with human rights, but his article is typical of what the Chinese government sees as the Western press’s distorted view of China.

It is this face-off—of Western press angering Chinese government, and Chinese government rebutting Western press—that we saw time and again last year, as coverage of the nation reached a new high.

It was a busy year for China correspondents, beginning  in January, when military police were called in to help battle snowstorms that battered the entire country.

In March the police were in the news again when violent riots erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, leading to the death of many ethnically Han and Tibetan Chinese.

If that wasn’t enough, in May the Sichuan earthquake exacted a devastating toll on the country’s south-western province.

Then in August we had the Olympics and soon after, in September, China completed its first spacewalk and a company called Sanlu provided the beginning to what would be the melamine contaminated milk powder scandal.

Late November saw the US-China Economic and Security Review present its annual report to Congress.

They claimed that China was gathering sensitive information through hacking American computers, and using their large stockpile of foreign currency in order to "manipulate currency trading and diplomatic relations with other nations."

Beijing, of course, saw the report as another vilification of China in the Western press, and said the claims were "unworthy of rebuttal."

We’ve seen a lot of these volleys of verbal cannon, but with the Olympics hoping to spur on openness and transparency, how do reporters in China feel about their day-to-day work now they’re over and done with?

Jonathan Watts, president of the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in Beijing,, has seen a clear development in the way China deals with the media since he started covering China for the Guardian in 2003. However, he also states that development has mainly affected how foreign correspondents work, and hasn’t had as great an effect on domestic Chinese journalists.

“There have been steps forward and steps backward, but the biggest step forward has been the introduction of regulations making it easier for foreign journalists.

“With regards to domestic journalists, the trend is in the direction of openness, especially over the last ten or 15 years. However, whether or not regulations like the ones foreign journalists have will come into force for them, I can't tell.”

The regulations that Watts mentions came into effect on January 1 2007.  Their aim seemed to be that of promoting media transparency and openness – but they benefited only foreign journalists in China.

Among other clauses, they allowed journalists to interview anyone with only the interviewees’ prior consent, as well as to travel freely around most of the country.

Watts added: “When I first arrived I had to get permission every time I left Beijing, and so had to break the rules quite a few times when there were more sensitive stories.”

“Now we can travel anywhere and talk to whomever agrees to talk.”

There was much speculation about what might happen post-Olympics, as the original regulations were due to expire on 17 October 2008. New regulations have since been released, however, with arguably even more leeway for foreign journalists.

The existence of rules and regulations allowing foreign journalists to more freely do their job is a major step towards media transparency, but Watts notes that one of the real setbacks lies with ordinary people’s attitudes to the Western press.

“In theory we can do those things, but the practice hasn't changed all that much since I arrived, and this might be to do with people's attitudes.

“The Olympics hoped to bring a lot of openness and transparency that it has brought to other Olympic cities; but whether attitudes have caught up it's hard to tell. There is still a long way to go.”

It's too early to say what long-term effects the regulations will have, but Watts cites an example of one Western journalist being stopped by the police shortly after the regulations came into effect. After some protest, producing a copy of the regulations and a phone call to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was left alone. This, Watts says, would be unheard of a few years ago.

Duncan Hewitt, a journalist who opened the BBC’s bureau in Shanghai and has lived and reported from the country since 1997, echoes Watts’ optimism and agrees that the last few years have seen monumental development in the ease with which he can do his job.

“The fact that they changed the rules is in itself a big change, although it puts the government in a tricky position because they now have to balance sensitive situations within the scope of the regulations.

“Overall though, it’s now much easier. Dealing with government officials, especially in Shanghai, is a lot easier than it was.”

Hewitt, however, goes on to describe that China’s own domestic situation has also changed for the better.

“The media environment has opened up and China’s society as a whole has as well.”

His beliefs are are highlighted by a recently released book written by American academic Judy Polumbaum and retired Chinese journalist Xiong Lei. The book, entitled China Ink,  confounded beliefs that media institutions in China are run by an all-seeing, all-powerful xuanchuan bu, or Propaganda Department (they have now changed their name to something along the lines of the Publicity Department).

Journalists working for the state agency Xinhua, the People’s Daily and other bastions of the Chinese party press were interviewed by the authors and most talked of their ability to cover most stories they want to, even if it does anger authorities.

Tan Hongkai, opinion editor for the China Daily said: “Our opinions are entirely ours—not directly tied up with official background, as we’re often viewed, nor issued on someone else’s instructions.”

Interviewees in the book also make a lot of reference to one of the biggest issues in the media freedom argument, the Internet, as a tool for change.

Duncan Hewitt agrees, and sees it as one of the reasons for a more increased atmosphere of openness. He believes that it is now impossible for China to return to the old days of pure propaganda.

“The Internet has had a big impact, and for all the restrictions it does offer a lot of places for people to say what they want to say. Now a lot of Chinese journalists are blogging a story when they can’t publish it.

“The days where you could just cover things up are over.”