The key issues for all journalists in China are the freedom of reporting and the role the media play in the communist country.
Foreign reporters are vetted and have to apply for numerous permits and licenses before they can work normally and attend news conferences, interview members of the public or visit newsworthy sites. The government can and does act against media companies or individual reporters it doesn’t like, either by turning down the renewal of permits, as happened again recently, or by closing down entire representative bureaus for an indefinite time.
The main task of the Chinese media is not to ferret out government secrets, fraud and corruption or to provide deep background and analysis about the news, but to follow and explain the official government agenda.
The regime does not see the delivery of news about what goes on in the country, good and bad, as the media’s first responsibility. Instead, newspapers, radio and television need to function as the voice of government and party.
Critical news can still occur, but only within often unclear parameters, which means it can either lead to repression against the media or be used in a power struggle between top politicians or leadership factions.
Taiwanese media should not continue to harbor the illusion that they will able to work in China in an environment similar to the one in Taiwan, where they can just hang out outside a minister’s office or at the door of his home long enough to get an interesting quote or a reaction to a news event splashed across the morning’s front pages. In China, they will still have to work within the local framework, which has been designed by its communist leaders.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=2381806
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