The Fall Of The Beijing News
The rise of journalistic resistance
UPDATE: January 9, 2006
Is the Beijing News Xinhua-ised? The coverage of the death of Yao Wenyuan, a Gang of Four member, is the first test.
UPDATE: January 6, 2006
"Beijing News" have become sensitive words on China's quasi-internet, according to Chinese Yazhou Zhoukan (via ESWN). How sensitive? I conducted a search of "新京报" (The Beijing News) at China's top search engine, Baidu, at midnight (GMT+8). The newspaper website www.thebeijingnews.com was ripped off from the search engine results pages (I checked the first five results pages). Unsurprisingly, the official website tops Google/Yahoo/MSN China.
But the nanny's agent has been rather too careless (wilfully blind, perhaps?). The fifth result at Baidu was a Sohu forum post titled "Cancel the subscription of the Beijing News" - a copy of Anti's post. Of course the forum post had been deleted. But the cache page thereof was still available.
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UPDATE: January 5, 2006
When has MSN Spaces become a Chinese judge?
MSN Spaces Product Unit Manager Michael Connolly responded to Scoble's post on Beijing News defender Mr Anti (see Jan 4 update below) (via ESWN/Scoble).
... And when an offense is found that actually breaks a national law, we have no choice but to take down the site ...
Perhaps Judge Connolly may care to indicate in his judgment which law had the accused Mr Anti broken? Did the learned judge refer to the post calling on Beijing News subscribers to ask for refund? Are the death penalty of Anti @ MSN Spaces and immediate execution justified? And Article 35 of the Constitution of our great nation provides inter alia that "Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press" - and the Constitution is no national law?
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UPDATE: January 4, 2006
The Beijing News resistance appears to have run out of steam right now. But another casualty, Mr Anti, a Chinese blogger whose MSN Spaces blog was removed after he had written some posts supporting the sacked editors, comes into play. Rebecca MacKinnon highlighted that it was MSN, not CCP nanny, which took down Anti's blog. Then Robert Scoble of Microsoft said, "Guys over at MSN: sorry, I don't agree with your being used as a state-run thug" (and his follow-up).
Anti now blogs at blog-city. His reflection was translated by ESWN:
This year, my blog was shut down twice because I supported media (Chinese Youth Daily and Beijing News) ... I know where the bottom line is. The problem is that when my fellow media are in trouble, it is my obligation as a member of the news media to offer support immediately. Under this type of moral obligation, personal bottom lines are irrelevant."
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UPDATE: January 3, 2006
Photos: Tears (Originally uploaded by Wang Xiaoshan, a Beijing News editor, on his Sina blog;Taken on December 29 in Beijing)
Wang Xiaoshan's post has been deleted (possibly by Sina). I believe these photos are authentic and feel obliged to explain how I got them:
1. I searched "新京报" (The Beijing News) with Technorati and found a Chinese blog Harmonious Society e News Clipping (HSeNC) which linked to the above photos hosted at blog.sina.com.cn. The blogger said that the source is Wang's blog and that although Wang's blog post had been deleted, the photos were not.
2. HSeNC blog also included a few lines, apparently written by Wang: 时事新闻部同事在吃饭 ... 摄影 柯芸 点击小图看大图 ... (colleagues of current affairs / news department were having their meal ... photo by Ke Yun ... click to enlarge).
3. I searched "摄影 柯芸 点击小图看大图" ("photo by Ke Yun ... click to enlarge" (I intentionally avoided "sensitive words".)) with China's big three search engines: Baidu, Google China and Yahoo China.
4. With Baidu, I found a cache of Wang Xiaoshan's blog post. The cache page was not functioning normally - an error message popped up and after a few seconds an error page returned. But that was enough to make a screenshot - and the photos on the cache page were same as those linked to at HSeNC.
5. Via Yahoo China (above) I found a cache of Sohu page, which mirrored Wang Xiaoshan's Sina post.
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(Christian Science Monitor) China ratchets up control on expression
... Last Thursday [December 29, 2005], in a gritty south Beijing neighborhood, nearly 100 reporters left the news offices. They began a short-lived strike - a rarity in China - and signed a petition asking for Mr. Yang's reinstatement, describing the removal as a tragedy. Some wept publicly, according to sources at the meeting.
"We were happy with our paper and the idea we had. But now the editor is leaving and the idea will leave with him. I am very sad," said a journalist who spoke with foreign reporters despite the presence of security officials and a warning that she could lose her job ... (Robert Marquand; January 3, 2006)
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ESWN has translated a chat room conversation about the Beijing News chaos.
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UPDATE: January 2, 2006
An article titled "《新京报》高层变动 经济新闻?政治新闻?" (The Beijing News reshuffle Financial News? Political News?) was posted by a Beijing resident on Asia Times Chinese. The commentator highlighted the fact that the Beijing News is co-owned by Beijing-based Guangming Daily Group (conservative) and Guangdong-based Nanfang Daily Group (relatively bold). The former holds 51% of shares and the latter 49%. It was speculated that by sacking Nanfang-backed editors Guangming would be able to monopolise the Beijing News.
But I do not see any transfer of shares in the Beijing News (except opaque rumours, see Danwei). Guangming Daily Group could not be so daft to imagine that kicking away bold editors would make any business sense.
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UPDATE: January 1, 2006
(Peking Duck) Those [ESWN translations, see part 1 and part 2] can literally make you cry ... The people who wrote the words are so beautiful, and they deserve so much better.
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We have seen the silhouetted birds on the weather page (see the ORIGINAL POST below). Today ESWN has highlighted "the fall of home base" on the sport page and a photo of birdcage at Beijing News website.
Do we read too much into Beijing News after the sacking or reorganisation or secondment (according to taste)? Of course I can't speak for ESWN. Perhaps we want to believe that Beijing News people refuse to submit to the nanny, and certainly we want them to know that they are not alone.
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The last words of Mr Anti @ MSN Space:
(Shanghaiist) Chinese blogger Mr. Anti, who had run a number of posts on this issue and called for a boycott of the newspaper (he'd already subscribed for the year of 2006 but wanted to cancel it and get a refund), has had ... his Chinese MSN spaces blog ... nuked ... We guess Anti doesn't matter much to one of the persons of the year ... before Anti was forced to "sign out", he left a couple of angry posts about this issue that Shanghaiist copied down. Here's our favorite one: 说实话,我宁愿去吃屎我也不要订什麼《光明日报》和它的什麼变种. Translation: Truth be told, I would rather eat shit than subscribe to Guangming Daily or any of its ilk.
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(BBC Chinese News) 《新京报》罢工潮下两副总编复职
在北京《新京报》职员罢工压力下，当局同意原本撤换的两名副总编保留职位，但维持总编杨斌的撤职决定。
据悉总编杨斌已经被中共中央高层直接点名，因此无望留任。有消息说杨斌离职后将担任深圳新浪网站总编。......
《新京报》内部职员对BBC中文网介绍说，报社很多员工对这次打压极度不满。罢工其实是以消极怠工形式出现。职员们在29日不去办公室，而是去卡拉OK唱歌发泄愤懑。...
《新京报》在31日召开员工会议。该报社员工对BBC中文网表示说，员工们在会议上被告知不得向境外媒体谈论任何有关《新京报》情况。
Translation:
1. Under the pressure of the "strike", the "authority" agreed that the two deputy chief editors originally fired / seconded would retain their positions. But chief editor Yang Bin must go since top CCP official had named him.
2. Source(s) said Yang would work for Sina Shenzhen, a portal site.
3. Beijing News workers told BBC Chinese that they were profoundly dissatisfied with the suppression. The "strike" was indeed a passive non-cooperation. Staff did not go to the office on December 29. Instead they went to karaoke to vent their anger and frustration. (that's exactly what Non-Violent Resistance blog said on Friday, see above.)
4. In a staff meeting on December 31, Beijing News workers were told not to talk anything about the newspaper with foreign media.
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ORIGINAL POST: December 31, 2005
(Non-Violent Resistance Blog) ... An editorial staff meeting is going on at this very moment, in which they have just announced that chief editor Yang Bin and several other senior editors are being replaced, probably by stupid idiots from the Guangming Daily. Usually this would mean the quality of the paper nosediving, daring exclusive coverage disappearing, good journalists leaving like fleeing a plague ...
... Not surprisingly, the post on Reporters' Home BBS was deleted after a few hours. But this definitely has become the hottest (saddest too?) [journalistic] gossip in town, and people are continuing to post comments there. (December 28, 2005)
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(Reuters via San Diego Union-Tribune) China removes editor of feisty tabloid
The top editor of one of China's boldest newspapers has been dismissed in what observers said was a move to strengthen Communist Party control over the media.
Yang Bin, the editor-in-chief of the Beijing News - a tabloid that has often reported on official missteps and misdeeds - was removed on Wednesday [December 28, 2005], Chinese journalists and media experts said.
The precise reasons for Yang's dismissal were unclear. But Pu Zhiqiang, a Beijing-based lawyer who often represents journalists and knew of Yang's removal, said party officials had accused the paper of 'multiple errors'.
Sources close to the paper and Chinese Web sites, said two of Yang's senior deputies were also removed, but this could not be confirmed.
Editors from the Guangming Daily, a conservative parent newspaper, were moved into the Beijing News to 'strengthen influence' and may take over the direct duties of those removed, according to another editor familiar with both newspapers.
The media sources all requested their names not be used, citing the sensitivity of propaganda controls in China ...
A Chinese media expert who knew of Yang's dismissal said the Beijing News has long been in the censors' sights.
'The Propaganda Department has wanted to do this for a long time. Recently, there may have been a few reports and commentaries that provided an excuse', he said. (By Benjamin Kang Lim and Chris Buckley; December 28, 2005)
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(BBC News) Top Chinese press editor sacked
The authorities in China have dismissed the top editor of the Beijing News, one of the country's most popular and daring newspapers.
Editor-in-chief Yang Bin was removed along with two other senior editors.
No official reason was given, but a lawyer who often represents journalists said Communist officials had accused the paper of multiple errors.
The Beijing News has a reputation for forthright reporting and commentary, despite strict control over the press.
It exposed a bloody crackdown ordered by officials against protesting farmers in Dingzhou, in the northern province of Hebei, in June, in which six farmers were killed.
Joint venture
Officials announced the dismissals at a meeting on Wednesday [December 28, 2005] afternoon. Several senior staff of the paper reportedly walked out in protest, and could go on strike.
A lot of good reporters may leave," one journalist told Reuters news agency.
The editors will be replaced by staff from the conservative Guangming Daily, but sources at the Beijing News said the top job would remain vacant ... (December 29, 2005 (GMT))
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(Kyodo News via Yahoo News) 2,000 walk out over dismissal of Beijing News top editor: sources
About 2,000 reporters and others began a walkout Thursday (December 29, 2005) in a move to express their discontent with the recent dismissal of the editor-in-chief of the Beijing News, sources familiar with the matter said ...
In a rare move for Chinese media, Beijing News reporters and other workers started walking out Thursday afternoon.
The editors have been dismissed in chief because the paper reported without government approval on the deaths of a number of elementary school pupils due to a flood caused by concentrated downpours in June in Heilongjang Province, the sources said.
"The freedom of the press should be guaranteed as before. Pressure is unacceptable," a reporter participating in the strike said.
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(Reuters) Chinese reporters walk out over sacking of editor (1)
... But while Communist Party officials were reasserting their hold on the feisty tabloid, nearly instantaneous Internet reporting of the dismissal and a flurry of online discussions suggested some of the limits of its control.
Internet postings decried the dismissal of Yang Bin as editor-in-chief of the Beijing News.
The paper, founded in 2003, was still published on Friday [December 30, 2005]. But a list of senior editors disappeared from its second page.
Part of the tabloid's staff showed their displeasure over Yang's dismissal by not turning up for work on Thursday [December 29, 2005], media industry sources said.
Some reporters estimated about 100 staff had walked out. Although some later returned, on Thursday [December 29, 2005] night the paper's usually busy current affairs and arts editorial offices were quiet.
One source, who requested anonymity, said reporters were forced to show their support for a new top editor.
A petition denouncing Yang's dismissal and the handover of controls to more conservative editors from the Beijing News' parent newspaper, the Guangming Daily, was circulated among staff, said reporters ...
Chinese blogs and Internet chat rooms reported the Beijing News dismissal soon after reporters there heard of the decision, triggering a wave of online denunciations.
Some speculated that the Guangming Daily, which owns 51 percent of the Beijing News, used claims about editors' "political mistakes" as a pretext for taking more direct control of the tabloid and its advertising revenues.
"The real reason is the black hands of power and self-interest are at work", said one veteran Chinese journalist who writes a blog under the name Ten Years of Chopping Timber.
"Some people stretched out their hands to pick a peach."
Another blogger urged readers to cancel their subscriptions. "(We) demand they immediately and unconditionally return our annual subscriptions," said Anti, a well-known media commentator.
China's rapidly growing Internet is heavily policed by censors and filters that block users from entering sites: many reports of the Beijing News dismissal were removed from Internet sites after an hour or two.
But China's explosive Internet growth, with 100 million registered users, makes it difficult for even China's vigilant censors to block news. (By Chris Buckley, additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; December 29, 2005 (ET))
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Beijing News journalists have sent their message on the weather page; click to enlarge, see below.
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(Non-Violent Resistance) There's talk of mass journalist resignations at both the Beijing News and the Southern Metropolis Daily. Yesterday at least, many Beijing News reporters went [drinking] and Karaokeing instead of going to work ... (December 30, 2005)
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(AP via The Guardian) Chinese Newspaper's Reporters Go on Strike
Reporters at a Beijing newspaper known for covering sensitive topics walked off the job after an editor was removed this week amid efforts to tighten press controls, employees said Friday [December 30, 2005].
The informal strike at the Beijing News was highly unusual for China's entirely state-controlled media. It reflected tensions between communist leaders and media outlets, which have pushed the limits of official tolerance in recent years, sometimes drawing punishment for aggressive reporting on corruption and other politically charged issues.
Reporters stopped filing articles Thursday [December 29, 2005] after the removal of editor Yang Bin, said employees contacted by phone. On Friday [December 30, 2005], the tabloid was 32 pages, compared with more than 80 on a normal day.
"Most of the 400 reporters and editors are unhappy about Yang Bin leaving,'' said a reporter who asked not to be identified. "We don't know how many high-level officials might leave their post.''
Employees said they didn't know why Yang was removed. It wasn't clear how many reporters took part in the protest or how long it might last.
A spokesman for the Beijing News denied there was any protest. "Everything here is normal,'' said the spokesman, who would give only his surname, Luo ...
"I think the paper's outspoken style brought it this trouble,'' said Pu Zhiqiang, a lawyer who has met Yang. "The Central Propaganda Department would no longer tolerate it because of its reporting on too many sensitive and political issues, such as the Dingzhou fighting.''
Pu said the Beijing News' opinion section was also told to suspend publication ...
Yang was reassigned by the Guangming Daily Group, a party-run publisher that is part owner of his paper, according to Hong Kong press reports.
"Yang Bin inherited the outspoken style from the Southern Metropolis News, which annoyed some central officials in Beijing,'' Pu said. (Joe McDonald ;December 30, 2005)
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(BBC News) Walkout protest hits China paper
About 100 journalists from one of China's most progressive newspapers, the Beijing News, have walked out to protest against their editor's sacking.
The highly unusual move follows the ousting of editor-in-chief Yang Bin and two senior editors, as Communist Party officials moved to rein in the paper.
The paper appeared on Friday [December 30, 2005], but many stories were taken from the Xinhua news agency rather than its own journalists.
Analysts say the row highlights a growing struggle over controlling news ...
There was no mention of the walkout in China's newspapers, but word of it spread rapidly via internet blogs and bulletin boards, which Communist officials are less able to control.
Beijing News journalists told Western news agencies via phone that most staff were unhappy about Yang Bin's removal, which was described officially as a reassignment.
The paper's Friday edition contained 32 pages, compared to more than 80 on other days, according to the AP agency. (December 30, 2005 (GMT))
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(Reuters) Chinese reporters walk out over editor's removal (2)
About 100 Beijing News reporters walked out in protest at this week's dismissal of the top editor, the latest victim of China's strict press controls, industry sources said on Friday [December 30, 2005].
Disgruntled journalists also displayed their anger through a photograph in the paper showing a flock of birds flying through dark skies above the newspaper's office, with one bird leading. "The sky may not be very clear, but they will still fly into the distance with their mission close to their hearts," said a note with the picture. (By Chris Buckley, additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; December 30, 2005 (ET))
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(Interfax China) Chinese newspaper staff go on strike after firing of chief editor
Several dozen editors and reporters at The Beijing News went on strike Thursday [December 29, 2005] night to protest the firing of the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief and two senior-editors, who were dismissed for publishing politically sensitive articles, several sources close to the situation said ...
After the firing of the editors was announced, a large number of employees at the newspaper threatened to go on strike in protest, a source at the newspaper said. However, the newspaper's management called a meeting Thursday [December 29, 2005] afternoon in which they threatened to fire any person that participated in the strike. As a result, a number of employees who had originally threatened to go on strike did not, while several dozen others did, the source at The Beijing News said.
Friday's [December 30, 2005] edition of The Beijing News was noticeably affected by the strike, with most of the stories culled from Xinhua News, China's official state news agency.
However, on Friday [December 30, 2005], the newspaper's management decided against firing employees who participated in the Thursday [December 29, 2005] night strike. Nonetheless, a number of mid-level editors and reporters resigned from The Beijing News, while others said they would, the source at the newspaper said. It was not immediately clear how many employees participating in the Thursday [December 29, 2005] strike had also chosen to resign ... (John Liu; December 30, 2005)
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(Financial Times) Journalists protest at dismissal of Beijing editor
The sacking of the editor of a feisty Beijing tabloid has prompted an angry reaction from staff and online readers that underscores simmering resentment against China's media censorship.
Some editors and reporters at the Beijing News refused to work on Thursday [December 29, 2005], a day after the surprise dismissal of editor Yang Bin and other senior staff, people at the two-year-old newspaper said ...
The Beijing News was able to publish a full 116-page edition on Friday, but the refusal of some staff to work was reflected on a number of pages by the absence of the newspaper's usual editorial credits.
Some staff posted angry messages about the dismissal on the internet prompting calls from online readers for a boycott of the newspaper and the return of subscription fees already paid.
Online censors quickly deleted such postings on major sites, but the internet reaction highlighted underlying resentment at Beijing's efforts to control the country's news ...
Pu Zhiqiang, an associate of Mr Yang, said he was concerned that the Beijing News editorial pages - a forum for relatively independent discussion of social and political issues - would be closed.
However, a photograph of silhouetted birds flying against a grey sky published on the weather page of the Beijing News yesterday struck an oblique note of defiance. Taken on Thursday from the newspaper's headquarters, the caption read: "A bird leading its flock flies across the sky. Although the sky is not so clear, they fly far away, carrying their goals in their hearts." (Mure Dickie; December 30, 2005)
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(International Herald Tribune) Journalists protest Chinese censorship
In a rare protest against an official media crackdown, about 100 journalists from one of China's most aggressive daily newspapers have gone on strike after the paper's editor and two of his deputies were fired, local journalists said Friday [December 30, 2005] ...
The striking journalists, about a third of the staff, stopped work on Thursday [December 29, 2005] after editors from The Beijing News's conservative parent paper, the Guangming Daily, were appointed to replace Yang and his deputies.
The Beijing News was published on Friday but the names of its editors, normally printed on the tabloid's masthead, had been omitted.
Senior editors from the paper were unavailable for comment ... (David Lague; December 30, 2005)
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(The Times) Chinese journalists strike as Editor is sacked
One of China's most outspoken newspapers was plunged into chaos after 100 reporters took the rare step of walking out in protest against the dismissal of their Editor-in-Chief.
The Beijing News was published yesterday but the popular tabloid printed only 32 pages instead of the usual 80 ... (Jane Macartney; December 31, 2005)
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ESWN has also translated two blog posts written by Beijing News insiders: see part 1 and part 2. Beijing News journalists are not the only casualties: Anti's (journalist/blogger) MSN Space blog has apparently been removed. The inconsistencies of western media reports on the "strike" are highlighted.
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The Sun of Hong Kong report said "仅撤总编人事不变 《新京报》息工潮" (Only the Editor-in-Chief sacked, Beijing News strike ended). See ESWN's translation.
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Links:
The Beijing News
Guangming Daily Group
Nanfang Daily Group
have you seen this one?
http://beforestforever.blogspot.com/2005/12/blog-post_113588957144819955.html
Posted by: sun bin | January 02, 2006 at 03:39 AM
Thanks SB.
For non-Chinese readers the linked article is about Shao Piaoping (邵飘萍), the founder of "Jing Bao" or "Beijing News" in 1918, who was killed by a warlord.
Shao and the "old Beijing News" were also mentioned in a speech given by Cheng Yizhong (程益中), the first Chief Editor of the Beijing News (pinyin: xin jing bao, meaning new Beijing/capital newspaper), in November 2003.
The Beijing News know their historic responsibility.
Posted by: Letters from China | January 02, 2006 at 06:43 PM