MB Civic

Two foreign reporters summoned and warned about Tibet stories

Reporters Without Borders
Friday, May 25, 2007

Beijing games organiser asked to clarify
Tibet’s status in new rules for foreign
journalists.

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern
today about the action of the Chinese
foreign ministry in summoning and
warning two western journalists about
their reporting from Tibet last month, and
it called on Beijing Olympic Games
organiser Liu Qi to clarify the status of
Tibet in the new rules for foreign
journalists.

“The Beijing games organising committee
has just published a very detailed report
about all the benefits that foreign
journalists will enjoy, so it is shocking to
see foreign correspondents being harassed
while out reporting and then lectured to
when they write stories that displease the
authorities,” the press freedom
organisation said.

“We urge Liu Qi, the head of the Beijing
Organising Committee for the Games, to
come out publicly in favour of journalists
being allowed to travel to Tibet and
Xinjiang without hindrance and for this
sort of harassment to stop,” Reporters
Without Borders added.

In his introduction to a “Guide to Services
for Foreign Journalists during the Beijing
Olympic Games” that was published on 9
May, Liu writes, “The freedom of foreign
journalists in their news coverage will also
be ensured.”

He also says: “In accordance with the
regulations, foreign journalists with a valid
visa or certificate may travel to places open
to foreigners designated by the Chinese
government.”

Reporters Without Borders regrets that
the authorities have confirmed in this
guide that the new regulations will cease
to apply in October, once the Beijing games
are over.

Harald Maass, China correspondent of the
German daily Franfurter Rundschau, and
Tim Johnson, the China correspondent of
the US newspaper chain McClatchy, were
summoned separately on 15 May by Zhang
Lizhong, a division director at the foreign
ministry’s information department, for
questioning about their trip to Tibet in
April.

Zhang warned Maass that his reporting
from Tibet was a “mistake” and that this
was a serious matter. Accusing Mass of
distorting the facts and violating
journalistic standards, he asked him
to “correct his mistakes.”

Maass told Reporters Without Borders this
was the first in his nine years in China that
he was critizised by the Foreign Ministry
for his reporting.

Zhang also told Maass that he had the
right to travel to Tibet under the new rules
for the foreign press, but he still needed to
obtain an authorisation from the
representatives of the ministry (Weiban) in
Lhasa.

Zhang told Johnson that parts of his
articles were “false” and “unacceptable.”
And according to Johnson, Zhang said the
new regulations do not apply to reporting
from Tibet. When Maass and Johnson
arrived in Lhasa, they found themselves
being followed and harassed by Chinese
plain-clothes policemen. Tibetans they
talked to were fined. And the police
prevented Maass from travelling to the city
of Shigatse.