As 2008 approaches China is fighting to maintain it's public image. Daily news reports outline a country that is troubled by years of human rights, free speech, and anti-democracy issues. It will be interesting to see which image of China the world will accept: the pseudo normal China that state controlled media pushes out, or the China that is not yet ready to be open and free.
Killing Puts Focus on Corruption in Chinese News Media
SHANGHAI, Jan. 30 — Lan Chengzhang sat in a car outside the office of a mining company while a colleague ventured inside to make inquiries.
It was his first month of work with the newspaper, and he had decided to take on what anyone in the area knew could be a most dangerous subject, the illegal coal mines that proliferate in the sooty hill country of Shanxi Province.
Within minutes, a band of men armed with lengths of pipe and other crude weapons set upon him, beating him so badly that within a few hours he succumbed to his injuries. Though severely beaten, his colleague from the China Trade News survived to tell the tale.
Fan Youfeng, 38, a reporter with the Hebei Youth Daily, was chased out of Henan Province after uncovering a scandal involving the handling of a coal mining disaster there.
“I’ve already paid a high price for this job,” he said, recounting how he had been forced to flee his previous newspaper. Asked what he would do if his investigative work made him a target again, he said: “It doesn’t matter. China is big, and there’s got to be a place for someone with a conscience.”
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