COVID-19 Pandemic Report Halt China Press Freedom
A recent research revealed that the working circumstances for international journalists in China were deteriorating at a “accelerated” rate.
This was mentioned in an annual survey by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC), which was released in China on Wednesday.
According to participant reports, all foreign journalists agreed that the working circumstances did not adhere to international norms.
“China is still one of the most important tales of our day, but journalistic freedom there has been rapidly deteriorating since the global pandemic began in 2020. According to a statement from the FCCC, “It is unclear whether they will recover.”
Over a third of respondents claimed they had to postpone travels or interviews due to official pressure, and more than half claimed that in 2022, police or officials had prevented them from doing their jobs.
38% of respondents to the study claimed that at least one of their sources had experienced harassment, detention, or being brought in for questioning by the authorities.
It said that some have experienced bad outcomes as a result of speaking with foreign journalists, stating that the percentage had increased from a quarter in 2022.
According to the FCCC, 2022 will be “another difficult and taxing year” for journalists, with more stringent Covid regulations also being utilized to limit reporting.
