"a new kind of journalism...is emerging in response to the Chinese
Communist Party's suffocating censorship of newspapers, radio and
television. With no more investment than computer and a taste for
taking risks, several dozen Web-based investigative journalists have
set up sites and started advertising their willingness -- for a price
-- to look into scandals that traditional reporters cannot touch.
Official censorship still protects authorities, including corrupt
authorities, more than two decades after China launched itself on a
path to reform. In a society that is swiftly modernizing, the
security-conscious Communist Party continues to fear, and filter, the
spread of information.
Official censorship still protects authorities, including corrupt
authorities, more than two decades after China launched itself on a
path to reform. In a society that is swiftly modernizing, the
security-conscious Communist Party continues to fear, and filter, the
spread of information.
Although censorship is imposed at all levels of the party and
government, much of it is self-inflicted by editors who are afraid of
losing their jobs and are regularly coached by party officials on
what to publish or broadcast.
The emerging Internet journalists for hire, however, have no jobs to
protect; they are self-employed. And although the freedom is greater,
the returns are meager. Xu said he has earned a little less than
$4,000 since starting up 10 months ago. In addition, he has to pay
two employees. To supplement his income and help support his two
children, he recently found a day job at Democracy and Legal System
magazine.
Xu and Li Xinde, another Web reporter for hire, said they take fees
from those who can afford to pay but also investigate for free if
victims cannot raise any money. Often they ask only for their
expenses, such as plane fare and hotel costs, they said....
Party censorship also extends to the Internet, which is policed by an
elaborate computer system and an army of snoops who monitor what
Chinese people read and say online. But that censorship comes after
the fact; it can only monitor what has been posted. Web condottieri
such as Xu and Li may get bounced off the Internet, but only after
their articles reach the public and get passed around. If one site is
blocked, they quickly start up another.
Xu, who has been sued for defamation by one group of officials, said
he takes care in his articles to attack only the misdeeds of corrupt
local officials and not the government in general. He has studied
law, he said, to avoid getting into trouble with the police in the
cat-and-mouse game he is forced to play...."
"China's Muckrakers for Hire Deliver Exposés With Impact," Washington
Post, May 2, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2q3uvx
