The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) just released its Annual Working Conditions Report which we have reproduced with their permission, as we have done for several years. Here’s a breakdown of the FCCC’s top concerns:
- Interference, harassment, and physical violence by authorities against foreign media during the reporting process
- Attempts by authorities to pre-empt and discourage coverage of sensitive subjects
- Intimidation and harassment of sources
- Restrictions on journalists’ movements in border and ethnic-minority regions
- Staged press conferences
- Pressure directed to editors and managers at headquarters outside of China
- Surveillance and censorship
The 3,500-word report fills in the details. This year’s survey was sent to 210 FCCC correspondent-members in April, of whom 120 replied. Not all respondents answered every question, the FCCC says. The FCCC identifies itself as a Beijing-based professional association comprising more than 200 correspondents from 35 countries and regions.