Media and the Rule of Law
• What are the requirements for the media
in a “rule of law” system?
• In what circumstances—if any—can the
media develop in ways inconsistent with
the “rule of law”?
1
A Banner Too Far:
Bao Tong on the 17th Party Congress (Oct ’07)
He wrote this essay, broadcast by Radio Free Asia's Mandarin service,
from his Beijing home, where he has lived under house arrest
since his release from jail in the wake of the 1989 student movement:
• “Why is it that the crucial roles played by the media and the creative
arts, that of exposing the dark side of our society, are now regarded
as the epitome of treason, and are being choked off, one by one?
Why has the publications inspection system which caused Marx
such a headache been turned by Communist Party leaders into the
art of maintaining power?
• These and so many other similar questions are studiously avoided
by the documents of the 17th Party Congress. They aren't raised,
they aren't analyzed, and they aren't answered. The documents
don't answer the question of how to turn this country into a genuine
republic, not just in name only; neither do they address the question
of how to ensure that ordinary citizens genuinely have the right to
exercise state power.
2
Symbolic commitment to press
freedom, free expression
• PRC Constitution
– Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens
– Article 35
• Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech,
of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of
demonstration.
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
– Article 19
• Freedom to seek, receive, impart information and ideas
– China has signed but not ratified
• What difference does this make—if any?
– “Village Tyrant”
» Southern Weekend reference to int’l coventions p. 61
3
Government information
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Most government agencies have official websites
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Most central and provincial level government institutions have public spokespersons
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86% by March 2007
Yueqing City example
Includes top-level courts
“Regulation on the Handling of Public Health Emergencies”
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May 2003
Response to
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Emergency Response Law
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SARS
Passed by NPC August 2007 (effective November 2007)
Requires timely government disclosure of information to public
Clause requiring media to get prior government approval removed from final draft of law
“Regulation of the PRC on the Public Disclosure of Government Information”
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–
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April 2007 (effective May 2008)
1st national regulations requiring all government agencies to release important information to
the public in a timely manner
Gives citizens right to request information with appeal via administrative lawsuit
Example on implementation: EPA implementing regulations passed April 2007
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5
政策文件
· 农民专业合作社登记管理条例
· 民用核安全设备监督管理条例
· 国务院关于修改《中华人民共和国合
· 国务院关于修改《中华人民共和国城
· 国务院关于修改《对储蓄存款利息所
· 国务院关于加强食品等产品安全监督
· 残疾人就业条例
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Government information
• Limitations
– “state secrets”
• Vague, ill-defined
• Allows government discretion, manipulation
– 1997 Penal Code
• Article 105: penalizing those subverting the political power of
the state
– Public Security Administration Punishment Law
• Article 25: detention of citizens spreading rumors that disturb
public order
• Jinan flood (Summer 2007)
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Court information
• Supreme People’s Court
– June 2007
– “Several Opinions on Strengthening Open
Adjudication Work of the People’s Courts”
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•
•
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Public access to the trial process
Make judgments available in print, on internet
Note “state secrets” still apply
Media needs government permission to interview
judges
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Corporatist and other controls
• Corporatist controls on the media and
internet
– Standard controls
• Party membership
• Nomenklatura of the Central Propaganda
Department (replicated at lower levels)
– CCTV, People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency
• Double-hatting
• Central Propaganda Department
instructions
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Corporatist and other controls
General Administration of Press and Publication
Registration
Newspapers, Internet Service Providers
» Government sponsor
» Provide identity papers for editorial and technical staff
– Reporters
» Examination and licensing by state
Policing
Special police unit
Fines, shutdowns, detentions, arrests
*stiff fines for violations
* more than 60 Chinese serving prison sentences for
Internet-based political crimes (HRW ’05)
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Corporatist and other controls
Content
– Self monitoring
» Must monitor content, prevent publication of prohibited
material, remove and report any prohibited materials
– Restricted content and likely targets
» Threatens the unity, sovereignty, geographical integrity of
the state
 Uighurs, Indep East Turkestan; Tibetans; Taiwanese
» Reveals state secrets, threatens state security, or harms
national interests
 state regulation
» Propagates superstitution
 falungong
» Harms racial unity 
» Threatens social morality  pornography
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Media expansion
• TV and radio
– Approx. 1,000 TV stations
• Print
– 2,035 newpapers (2003) (Liebman, p. 17)
• Internet
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Media commercialization
• Financial incentives
– Institutional
• Circulation, advertising
– Individual journalist
• Salary and publications allowed
• Relationship to censors
13
Media and dispute resolution
• Will the Boat Sink the Water? “Village Tyrant” 1998
– Initial role of media
• County TV, provincial newspapers
– “manslaughter” in “civic dispute”
– “The Press Arrive at Last”
• Anhui branch of Xinhua News Agency
– “These articles finally set the true facts of the killings in Zhang Village
before the public, defeating all the cover-up attempts of the Guzhen
County and Bengbu Municipal party authorities.” p. 57
• China Central Television
• Southern Weekend
• Democracy and Law
– “With the media’s attention now focused on the crime and numerous
articles appearing in the national press, the case of peasants being
killed because they wanted to audit the village books could not be
covered up any longer. Only then did things take a turn for the better.”
p. 61
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Will the Boat Sink the Water?
• Investigative journalism in Anhui Province
• Nov ’03 magazine Dangdai
• Dec ’03 People’s Literature Pub. House
– Huge media sensation
– Banned after 250,000 copies sold
– Millions more sold illicitly
• Chen Guidi forced to resign
• Sued by local official for libel
• Interviews: Peasant authors Chen Guidi and
Wu Chuntao RFA Unplugged, May 23, 2007
15
Case of journalist Shi Tao
•
On April 20, 2004, the Chinese government released the Number 11 document "A notice concerning the work for
maintaining stability"
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•
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not report anything regarding
•
•
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"June 4th“
Falungong
Poltiical dissidents
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Shi used his private Yahoo! email account to send inform to overseas web site called Asia Democracy Foundation.
When the Chinese government found out, it demanded the sender's personal information from Yahoo!'s Hong
Kong office. Yahoo! turned the information over without asking what it was for. Shortly thereafter, Shi Tao was
detained on November 24, 2004. The Chinese authorities confiscated his computer and documents without
showing any proper permit or document, and warned his family members not to talk about it with others. He was
formally arrested on December 14.
His lawyer, Guo Guo-Ding (郭国汀), famous for taking human rights cases, stated that the search and seizure and
subsequent arrest were illegal. As a result, his license to practice law was suspended for one year by Shanghai's
Department of Law. He was later put under house arrest, and one of his co-workers had to take over the case.
On March 11, 2005, Hunan Changsha People's Middle Court held its first hearing secretly. It lasted for two hours.
Shi Tao's mother and brothers came all the way from Ningxia to Changsha, but they were not permitted to go
inside and observe. After the hearing was over, Shi was permitted ten minutes of private time with his family
members. Fifteen days later, he was sentenced to prison for ten years, and will lose his political rights for two
years on the charge of leaking state secrets.[3]
On June 2, 2005, the Hunan Superior Court rejected his lawyer's arguments and denied his appeal, keeping the
original sentencing. Shi's mother, Gao Qinsheng, alleged "serious procedural defects" in her son's case, but his
appeal was rejected without a hearing.
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Additional information
• Keller
• Human Rights in China Trends Bulletin
– “Media censorship intensifies with continued
crackdowns,” February 2007
• Council on Foreign Relations
– “Media Censorship in China”, September ‘06
• Freedom House
– "Speak No Evil: Mass Media Control in
Contemporary China," February 2006
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