Reporting the News in China: First-Hand Accounts and Current Trends

628 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 | Friday, July 31, 2009 - 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Transcript (PDF) (Text)

At this CECC Roundtable, a veteran journalist for The Atlantic magazine who covers China*, two members of the Media Freedoms Committee, Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, and an expert on Chinese media and the Internet described the reporting climate for Chinese domestic and foreign journalists covering the news in China. Have conditions improved for journalists since China hosted the Olympics last year? What has been the impact on journalists' work in China of recent events in Xinjiang, a year of significant anniversaries, the global economic downturn, and the Internet? Will China move towards greater press freedom in the future?

Panelists: 

Dr. Ashley Esarey, Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics, Whitman College

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Ms. Jocelyn Ford, 2007-2009 Chair, Media Freedoms Committee, Foreign Correspondents' Club of China; freelance radio and multi-media journalist

Ms. Kathleen E. McLaughlin, Chair, Media Freedoms Committee and Secretary, Foreign Correspondents' Club of China; China correspondent, BNA, Inc.; freelance journalist

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Submitted for the Record:

Mr. James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic

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*Mr. Fallows was unable to attend the roundtable, but submitted a written statement.