Foreign secretary David Cameron is being urged to demand the release of newspaper tycoon Jimmy Lai as the British national prepares for a high-profile trial in Hong Kong this month. Lai, 76, is facing a life sentence, accused of colluding with foreign forces under the draconian national security law introduced by Beijing in 2020 following mass protests. Sebastien Lai wants to meet David Cameron to discuss his jailed father, Jimmy. Photograph: Free Jimmy Lai Campaign His son Sebastien has demanded that Cameron, who has faced controversy over his links to…
Tag: Newspapers
China Uses ‘Deceptive’ Methods to Sow Disinformation, U.S. Says
The State Department accused China on Thursday of using “deceptive and coercive methods” to shape the global information environment, by acquiring stakes in foreign newspapers and television networks, using major social media platforms to promote its views and exerting pressure on international organizations and media outlets to silence critics of Beijing. The accusations, detailed in a report by the department’s Global Engagement Center, reflect worry in Washington that China’s information operations pose a growing security challenge to the United States and to democratic principles around the world by promoting “digital…
Solomon Islands newspaper pledged to promote ‘truth about China’s generosity’ in return for funding
Local media in Solomon Islands have been accused of compromising their independence by entering into agreements with Chinese news organisations and accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment from the Chinese embassy. Since the Solomon Islands government signed a high-profile security agreement with China in March 2022, some newspapers in the Pacific country have received cars, cameras, phones and printing machinery that costs thousands of dollars from the Chinese government, via its local embassy, according to local journalists. Some have raised concern about the gifts and the continued close dialogue…
Blocked, censored, jailed or laid off: why it’s never been harder to be a journalist
Taisia Bekbulatova, Russia In December 2021, I was declared a “foreign agent” by Russia’s justice ministry. I now have to declare this status on every post, even on Instagram selfies. I refuse to comply. As a result, I could face criminal charges in Russia at any moment. After the Ukraine war began, I had to evacuate the editorial team of my news website, Holod, from Russia because even writing the word “war” became illegal, and sharing unapproved information risked up to 15 years in prison. It’s difficult for me to…
Meta takes down ‘influence operations’ run by China and Russia
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has said it has removed a pair of “influence operations” run by China and Russia, which aimed to sway views on the US elections and the war in Ukraine. The Russian network, the largest the company has disrupted since the war began, targeted audiences across Europe and the UK, and incorporated a “sprawling network” of websites impersonating news websites including the Guardian, according to Meta. “It presented an unusual combination of sophistication and brute force,” said Meta’s Ben Nimmo and David Agranovich in a blogpost announcing…
Hong Kong journalist union chair arrested weeks before Oxford fellowship
The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union has been arrested, weeks before he was due to leave for an overseas fellowship at Oxford University. Ronson Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place. Channel C, the online news outlet Chan works for, said the veteran reporter was taken away by officers who asked to check his identity while he was reporting on a meeting of public housing flat-owners on Wednesday. Police said a…
Carlos Tejada, Deputy Asia Editor for The New York Times, Dies at 49
“Carlos always pushed me and other journalists to do more stories that showed the human side of China,” Ms. Yuan wrote. “He wanted the world to understand China wasn’t just about an authoritarian government.” Carlos Ramon Tejada was born on Dec. 7, 1972, in Rochester, N.H. His mother, Carlene (Richardson) Tejada, taught English as a second language and is a former magazine editor; his father, Juan, who is from El Salvador, owns an acupuncture clinic in Tucson, Ariz. Mr. Tejada graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree…
U.S. and China Agree to Ease Restrictions on Journalists
WASHINGTON — The United States and China announced an agreement on Tuesday to ease restrictions on foreign journalists operating in the two countries, tempering a diplomatic confrontation that led to the expulsion of some American reporters from China during the last year of the Trump administration. The deal was first reported by China Daily, a newspaper controlled by the Chinese government, and later confirmed by a statement issued from the State Department. Under the agreement, made public just a day after President Biden met with President Xi Jinping of China,…
Zuo Fang, a Founder of China’s Southern Weekly, is Dead
Zuo Fang, a trailblazing journalist who helped start China’s most influential reform-era newspaper and edited it with the conviction that the press should inform, enlighten and entertain rather than parrot Communist Party propaganda, died on Nov. 3 in Guangzhou, China. He was 86. His death, in a hospital, was announced by the newspaper he co-founded, Southern Weekly. Southern Weekly — the paper prefers that English name over another common translation, Southern Weekend — was started in 1984 as the sister publication of Nanfang Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist…
In Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai’s Next Digital Says It Has Been Forced to Close
HONG KONG — Next Digital, a Hong Kong media company that has published vehement criticism of the Chinese government for decades, said on Sunday that it would take steps to shut down after an official crackdown had left it with no way to operate. In a statement, the company’s board of directors called for the liquidation of the company and said that they had resigned. “We have concluded that the best interests of shareholders, creditors, employees and other stakeholders will be served by an orderly liquidation,” it said, adding that…