How can reporters not speak up?

Media reporters for the ruled, not the ruler - The Post

A few days ago, my friend, my colleague, Wei Zhili, the editor of "New Generation", disappeared. His wife, Zheng Churan, one of China's "Five Women's Rights Sisters", and a lawyer were found from Guangzhou to Shenzhen. They were asked by police stations at all levels to the petition office, but "there is no such person." What remained in Zheng Churan's mind was the scene where the police surrounded their house at 1:00 a.m. on the 20th, "He was handcuffed, and the police left a sentence 'He was brainwashed and disturbed public order', and he was not allowed to pack his underwear. I took it away.” As for the notice and detention evidence, there was nothing.

Another editor of "New Generation", Ke Chengbing, was also arrested that day. Earlier in January, editor-in-chief Yang Zhengjun was arrested on the charge of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." The police are quite skilled in catching reporters and muting their voices. However, what exactly did the journalists and editors do, when, where and how did they disrupt the public order? All are vague.

The self-media "New Generation" has long been concerned with labor rights issues in mainland China, and in recent years, it has particularly focused on the rights protection of workers with pneumoconiosis in Hunan. As the reporter editors of the media, Wei Zhili, Ke Chengbing and others are naturally responsible for tracking and reporting the work and living conditions of pneumoconiosis patients, and digging into why they have pneumoconiosis and why they can't get the compensation they deserve?

After studying labor conditions for many years, Wei Zhili and others saw institutional injustice. Seeing that injustice continues to be vicious, they have entered the life of the workers at the bottom, and used their actions to record the difficult voices of pneumoconiosis workers and help the disadvantaged to fight for fairness and justice. Writing articles and speaking out is the job of journalists and editors. With good hearts towards pneumoconiosis workers, helping them defend their rights is just being brainwashed? Could it be that it is normal to only sweep the snow in front of one's own house, not to care about the frost on other people's tiles, and to hang up high on the other's business, and to live peacefully in the chaos of others? What's wrong with helping them recover the compensation they have exchanged for their lives? What public order did they disturb? How can a media reporter not speak up?

You know, freedom and equality are also included in the core socialist values. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right granted to every citizen by the Constitution. Speaking up is not the unique right of journalists and editors, but a right that every citizen should share.

Free voice and free supervision of the party, government, and big financial groups are to let people see the injustice in the system, awaken the consciousness of civil rights, and let everyone wake up and realize that this kind of injustice in the system will eventually damage in the long run. to the dignity and interests of each of us.

Media reporters, who serve the governed, not the rulers, are naturally tasked with supervising power. We observe and record the reality, expose the evil and promote the good, focus on current affairs, speak up for the voiceless, and help the powerless to move forward. In fact, this is not only the reporter's own job, but also should be our consciousness as a citizen. I know that calling on others to stand up and denounce injustice and injustice is also unfair. First, the information cannot be spread smoothly, so that everyone can learn from multiple sources to make independent judgments; under the public power, either actively or passively. However, silence is also connivance. Even the police who serve the autocratic regime may only be doing their job, but it is actually a kind of violence against journalists who have no weapons and no power, arrest and imprison them, and ignore higher justice. Cheering and encouraging evil will eventually be wrong and unjust.

For exposing the injustice of power, the injustice of capital, for documenting and assisting pneumoconiosis workers to defend their rights, and being indicted for speaking up, it is not only inconsistent with socialist values, but also goes back to the pre-revolutionary stage. The high-pressure control and endless bans on the media have caused a serious loss of journalists with real ideals and ethics, and they are on the verge of extinction. The 2017 "Report on Ecological Changes in China's Investigative Journalism Industry in the New Media Environment" shows that the number of investigative journalists in traditional media has dropped by as much as 58%, and there are less than 200 investigative journalists nationwide. And after washing the manuscript, licking the "human blood steamed buns", and betraying some media of various emotions, the media is flourishing. When the authoritarian regime thinks it has the mouthpiece and the right to speak, its credibility collapses like snow. The masses believe in rumors, and emotions such as anxiety and anger can easily be ignited, and people no longer believe in government announcements and reports.

Scholars have been dismissed from get out of class, journalists have gradually been silenced, and activists have been arrested in batches. In the past, the authoritarian regime will soon lose popular support and its legitimacy. When people no longer voluntarily obey and cooperate, and there is an awakening and counterbalancing force that does not cooperate, then the regime will lose its power. However, based on the inertia of power, the regime has a stage of desperate struggle and instinctive self-rescue. In this stage, all resources for governance will be mobilized, various tools of governance will be used, or it may go to two extremes, accelerating destruction or prolonging lifespan. Autocratic rule cannot continue.

In any case, we should resist the decline of the media and protect freedom of speech. The best way to resist and protect is to keep speaking. Since there is a party-controlled media surnamed the party, the private media should be allowed to express their voices. Respecting and cherishing freedom of the press, safeguarding the right to speak freely and channels, and rebuilding the faith and trust of journalists are extremely precious and important at the moment.

Even though there is chaos and fear, we still see these young media people stick to their principles, have the courage to speak out for injustice, and fight against injustice with practical actions, even if they fall behind bars and take the so-called "" "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and "disturbing order". In the end, people will see that they continue to speak up, and what they do is not for personal benefit, but to prevent this society from getting too rotten and rotten too fast, and also to get a little closer to that free and equal future world. As Professor Xu Zhangrun, who was recently dismissed from the get out of class, said, personal ambitions have nothing to do with public sentiments or thoughts of home and country, and they are ultimately pale. As a reporter, how can you not speak up?

Independent journalist Huang Xueqin