Freedom of Press: February 2008 Archives

News of the scandal has dominated Hong Kong headlines for several weeks.

China keeps tighter watch over the Internet than semiautonomous Hong Kong, however, and the government-sponsored Beijing Association of Online Media said in a statement on its Web site Tuesday that Baidu helped spread the racy pictures in the mainland.

The group said certain key word searches and certain pages on the Baidu site ''have become the platform for displaying and spreading these filthy pictures.'' The association demanded that the Web site apologize.

''While other Beijing Internet companies have boycotted the spread of the racy photos, Baidu still hasn't implemented effective blocking and obscuring of the photos and has become defensive and procrastinated, leading to the stagnation of a large amount of pornographic, filthy pictures,'' the watchdog said in the statement, which was dated Monday.

China bans pornography, although the government's Internet police struggle to block pornographic Web sites based abroad. The government recently released new rules giving it more control over Internet videos and video-sharing Web sites.

The government regularly censors and restricts access to content it considers subversive or politically sensitive, and Chinese Web sites often hire their own censors to screen for potentially problematic content.

>> Read complete news item

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | The New York Times
February 15, 2008

Key criticisms facing Beijing's staging of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics:

FOREIGN POLICY -- Hollywood director Steven Spielberg announced Tuesday he would no longer act as an artistic adviser for the games' opening and closing ceremonies to protest China's support for the Sudanese government, which is accused of human rights abuses in Darfur. Beijing has also been petitioned by Nobel Peace Prize laureates, former Olympians and 120 members of the U.S. Congress.

AIR POLLUTION -- Athletes have been told to arrive late and leave early to avoid hot, polluted air, and Britain, the United States and other countries are considering supplying their athletes with breathing masks. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has warned that some events could be postponed and Haile Gebrselassie, recognized as the world's greatest distance runner, said he might skip the Olympic marathon altogether.------

RELIGIOUS RESTRICTIONS -- China's officially atheistic communist government maintains strict controls over all religious activity, and is reportedly ferreting out clandestine missionaries ahead of the games. Despite that, evangelical groups say they plan to be active in Beijing. Together with expected protests by the banned F.... G.... *** spiritual movement, that poses the likelihood of protests and arrests that could tarnish the games' image. Protesters have also rallied against Chinese control over the Buddhist region of Tibet.

PRESS GAGS -- China's state-controlled media is tightly leashed and press freedom groups regard the country as the world's leading jailer of journalists. China pledged to allow full freedom during the games and has lifted some restrictions over foreign media, but reporters and monitors say the government has failed to live up to those commitments.

HUMAN RIGHTS -- International human rights groups such as Amnesty International have urged governments, Olympic sponsors and individuals to pressure China to free political prisoners and ratify a key U.N. rights accord. Seeking to avoid controversy, Britain's Olympic Association asked its athletes to sign an agreement pledging not to speak out on political issues, but later backed down, saying that appeared to go beyond IOC rules.

By BBC Sports | BBC World News
February 14, 2008

But that has not stopped some sportsmen and women registering their unhappiness with the country's involvement in war-torn Sudan.

Thousands have been killed and millions more affected by the conflict in the western region of Darfur - and the finger of blame has been pointed at countries like China for not doing enough to stop the suffering.

China responded to the growing criticism on Thursday, with its foreign minister saying it was "understandable if some people do not understand the Chinese government policy on Darfur, but... that some people may have ulterior motives".

Here, British badminton player and former Olympian Richard Vaughan , a member of pressure group Team Darfur, explains why he felt it was right for him to speak out, and why he thinks GB athletes should be allowed to do so in the build-up to the Beijing Games.

WHY THE CONCERN OVER CHINA?

In my mind, China has an indifferent political record internationally, be it in Darfur, Burma, or many other nations in Africa they do business with.

This, mixed with human rights issues within China itself, and the lack of a free press, means there are always going to be issues with the decision to stage the Olympics in Beijing.

I think the IOC and the Chinese government would have expected some opposition to a certain degree.

IS IT IMPORTANT FOR SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN TO SPEAK OUT?

I believe free speech is very important for everyone.

If athletes feel strongly about a humanitarian topic, they have the right to comment on it, as does any member of the public.

>> Read complete interview

By AFP | via (uncensored) Yahoo! News
February 09, 2008

Chinese authorities have barred Mikael Haafstroem from shooting his film "Shanghai", set to star John Cusack and Gong Li, in China, the Swedish director said in an interview published Saturday.

"This obviously comes as a shock to all of us. We don't know exactly why we have been turned down" for a filming permit, Haafstroem told the Dagens Nyheter daily by phone from Shanghai.

The director said the authorities' decision to block the shoot came as a complete surprise, pointing out that the movie's production team had been in China since last September preparing for the filming.

"We wouldn't have spent millions of kronor (hundreds of thousands of dollars, euros) in this country over the past six months if we hadn't been completely sure we would receive a permit," Haafstroem said.

He said he had heard that 56 other foreign film shoots had also recently been blocked in China, but said he did not know why his film, which is set in Shanghai in 1941 and features scenes of opium-smoking and prostitution, had been targeted.

>> Read complete news item

By Michael Bristow | BBC News
February 01, 2008

A prominent Chinese activist has been formally arrested more than a month after being taken into custody.

Hu Jia, who publicises human rights abuses across China, has been accused of inciting subversion of state power.

Campaigners say his arrest shows that China is not keeping its promise to improve human rights ahead of this year's Beijing Olympic Games.

But the government says China is a country ruled by laws, and Hu Jia will be dealt with according to the law.

Sudden detention

Two days after Christmas, about 30 security officers burst into Hu Jia's flat and took him away.

Officials were apparently tired of his efforts to support human rights cases across the country.

He had become a kind of one-man clearing house for information, passing it on to journalists, organisations and foreign embassies.

His wife Zeng Jinyan, also a prominent activist, has been put under house arrest with the couple's two-month-old baby.

The BBC was not allowed to visit her when we went to the couple's flat on the outskirts of Beijing last month.

Since he was detained, there has been little word about Hu Jia's condition and whereabouts. His lawyers have not been allowed to see him.

But officials have now sent his family formal notification that he has been arrested.

"After 37 days a suspect has to be either released or formally arrested. Hu Jia has been arrested," said a family friend, lawyer Teng Biao.

Mr Hu faces charges of subverting state power, a serious charge that could lead to a long prison term.

Rights groups say Beijing is cracking down on dissent ahead of the Olympics in August.

"The preparations for the Olympics are having an overall negative impact on human rights developments in China," said Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch.

The United States and the European Union have also voiced their concern about Hu Jia's arrest. But so far, this criticism has had no visible effect.