Freedom of the press in China refers to the journalism standards and its freedom and censorship exercised by the

government of China The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an Authoritarianism, authoritarian political system in the China, People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of Leg ...

. The

Constitution of the People's Republic of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further revisions about every five years. It is the fo ...

guarantees "freedom of speech ndof the press" which the government in practice routinely violates with total impunity, according to

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

. Authorities often label independent or investigative coverage as "fake news". Since

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

became the

general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

(CCP) in 2012, various commentators, protesters, feminists, lawyers, journalists, and activists have been arrested, detained, jailed, and threatened for attempting to exercise press freedom.

Background

The country's constitution prohibits media workers, including internet users from publishing, writing, circulating or otherwise posting

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...

, misinformation, disinformation and

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

related to various subjects such as

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

, terrorism, ethnic hatred, violence, and obscenity. However, most private journalists are restricted from sharing certain views and opinions with the general public. China introduced Article 35 of the constitution of China that provides its citizens right to observe "press freedom" in a free environment, however Article 51 prohibits such activities for the

national interest The national interest is a sovereign state's goals and ambitions (economic, military, cultural, or otherwise), taken to be the aim of government. Etymology The Italian phrase ''ragione degli stati'' was first used by Giovanni della Casa around t ...

which limits press freedom in the country. Chinese mass media such as radio and television broadcast news under Article 25, which limits their ability to broadcast plays, news, and other forms of information in free journalism standards, which according to the Regulation on the Administration of Publishing prevent transmitting of such content that poses risk to

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

and public interest. A book titled Freedom of the Press in China: A Conceptual History, 1831-1949'' by Yi Guo has also been published in August 2020 by

Amsterdam University Press Amsterdam University Press (AUP) is a university press that was founded in 1992 by the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is based on the Anglo-Saxon university press model and operates on a not-for-profit basis. AUP publishes scholarl ...

, consisting of a detailed analysis of press freedom of China from 1831 to 1949. Freedom of the Press in China was greatest during the early period (1966-1968) of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. During this period, several

Red Guard Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

organizations also operated independent printing presses to publish newspapers, articles, speeches, and

big-character posters Big-character posters () are handwritten posters with large characters, usually mounted on walls in public spaces such as universities, factories, government departments, and sometimes directly on the streets. They were used as a means of protest ...

. Media organizations and its workers, explicitly foreign media working within the country "must" obtain a license before they engage in journalism compiled with standards which are

regulated Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

by the foreign affairs authority. Foreign media has limited access or freedom to attend press conferences of the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

, however the

law of China Chinese law is one of the oldest legal traditions in the world. The core of modern Chinese law is based on Germanic-style civil law, socialist law, and traditional Chinese approaches. For most of the history of China, its legal system h ...

allows state-owned media with "free press" such as raising questions or concerns in the press conference. Domestically, sanctioned journalists must study Xi Jinping thought through the “ Study Xi, Strengthen the Country propaganda application” in order for them to renew their press credentials.

Global rank

The global rank of China declined to 177 out of 180 since the

came into power. China has been one of the countries with nominal freedom of press regulations.

, a non-government organisation dedicated to safeguarding the right to information published an annual report, the

Press Freedom Index The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002 based upon the organisation's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to ...

, indicating that the Chinese Communist Party, the ruling party, is exercising

self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

and direct-censorship on the press.

Censorship

According to Reporters Without Borders, the role of the media in China is to impart state propaganda. Chinese authorities, accounting to the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...

are often argued to have been involved in press suppression. It is often referred to as one of the frontline-countries where freedom of

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

and its associated people such as journalists persistently experience troubles. China often blocks news websites, social media platforms and other services such as Facebook, Gmail, Google, Instagram, and Pinterest, and has limited their access to the general public. The

Great Firewall The Great Firewall (''GFW''; ) is the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate the Internet domestically. Its role in internet censorship in China is to block access to selected for ...

has blocked most foreign news websites such as ''

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

'', ''VOA Chinese, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

,'' ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

and'' ''

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...

''. In 2017, Chinese authorities also removed about "300 politically sensitive articles" from the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, however this article removal was later contested online on

Change.org Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...

. In 2019, some scholars and writers deleted their posts or permanently deleted their feeds after authorities asked them to do so. Some writers were warned for retweeting or liking posts. Up to 2012 when

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

was the Communist Party's

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

, the press was free to share their views online, however,

is arguably using technology as a propaganda tool and often blocks sensitive information through the Great Firewall. The authorities often raid pro-democracy activists and media owners in an attempt to suppress the press. In 2019, China blocked all available versions of Wikipedia in the country without any notice to

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...

. Chinese journalists are often detained for alleged negative coverage. In 2016, more than twenty journalists, including commentator Jia Jia were arrested after an open letter was published calling on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to resign. According to Reporters without Borders, independent journalists and bloggers are often surveilled, harassed, detained, and in some cases tortured. A report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2016 asserted an estimated 49 journalists are serving prison terms, indicating that China is a "prolific jailer of media workers".

Background

Global rank

Censorship

See also

Books

References

Further reading