CNN: Row over China reporter sacking

Becker has been based in China for almost 12 years and the author of books including 'Hungry Ghosts' and 'The Chinese'

By Andrew Demaria

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- The dismissal of the Beijing bureau chief of Hong Kong's leading English newspaper has sparked claims of censorship and restrictions of press freedom in the former British colony. Veteran reporter and acclaimed author Jasper Becker, who held the post of bureau chief for seven years, was sacked from his position at the South China Morning Post on Monday for refusing to work with the paper's China editor, the daily said. He says his dismissal was an act of 'self-censorship' by the paper to appease Beijing and followed his raising of grievances over the Post's China coverage.

The Post rebuked the accusations, saying Becker's dismissal had nothing to do with his disagreement with the newspaper's China coverage. He was sacked for his refusal to work under and report to the China editor, Wang Xiangwei, a spokeswoman for the Post said. "This amounts to our eyes in this organization as insubordination. We have a clear and effective reporting line in this organization and there is no place for people who cannot work or refuse to work in this system," the spokeswoman told CNN.

However, Jasper claims that over the past few months, material that could be seen as offending Hong Kong or China was removed from story copy or downplayed. "I felt there was a long list of stories which had become taboo, like Tibet, like Falun Gong, like labor protests -- thing's they'd rather we didn't cover". "Instead we were filling the newspaper with bland, harmless stories, and if there was anything sensitive we would run agency copy and sort of try and downplay it," Becker said.

Becker accused the paper of bowing to pressure from Beijing to sanitize its coverage of sensitive stories. He added that it was being influenced by the state controlled Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office which, "continually gave guidance" about what the Post's coverage should be. "At one point, he [Wang] passed on a message he'd received from them, saying 'Oh, you shouldn't cover this illegal protest by rural aids victims because the Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office says it's not a good idea,'" he said.

The Post defended its coverage of China. "We don't agree with his comments that we are self-censoring," the spokeswoman said. "If you look at our China coverage our direction has never changed. We are still deeply committed to independent reporting and analysis of China and our coverage since 2000 has been extended."

Press freedom

Becker: 'They are changing the locks. It is pretty extraordinary behaviour'

Becker, author of books on China and North Korea including 'Hungry Ghosts' and 'The Chinese', had been reporting in China for almost 12 years, working previously with The Guardian. His departure comes less than two years since long-time China watcher Willy Wo-Lop Lam resigned from China editor of the Post instead of accepting a job change. He was replaced by Wang and is now CNN's Senior China Analyst.

Hong Kong still maintains a free press following its handover to China in 1997 however human rights groups have expressed concern that Hong Kong media had been prone to self-censorship. The U.S. State Department said in a March human rights report that the Hong Kong press often practices self-censorship, particularly regarding mainland stories.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/04/30/hk.reporter/index.html