Protests in China highlight Beijing’s efforts to suppress media

The arrest of a Western journalist this week who had been covering demonstrations against China’s government has highlighted the country’s effort to suppress independent reporting and control the narrative about what is happening within its borders. 

With state-controlled media in China largely ignoring the protests, sparked in more than a dozen cities by strict zero-tolerance coronavirus lockdown measures put in place by the government, a handful of independent journalists and international news organizations have been providing the majority of the reporting.

Experts say China’s effort to spread propaganda and fight against critical international press coverage shows how important media messaging is to the agenda of one of the world’s largest superpowers and a leading U.S. foreign adversary. 

“In general, conditions for foreign correspondents in China have gotten a lot worse over the last several years,” said Sarah Cook, research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House. “The day-to-day conditions of foreign correspondents in China is extremely difficult, especially if you’re broadcast media because it’s very obvious, especially for television.” 

As protests grew in China this week, Edward Lawrence, a journalist at the BBC, was kicked and handcuffed for hours after being arrested while covering demonstrations in Shanghai. The BBC declined to make Lawrence available for an interview this week but after the incident called the episode “very worrying.” 

“We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught COVID from the crowd,” the network said. 

Credentialed journalists are supposed to have certain rights and freedoms in China, experts say, but during rare demonstrations like ones seen across the country this week, local police often make life difficult for reporters, especially those broadcasting information or viewpoints critical of the Chinese government. 

Chinese authorities have also reportedly engaged in a massive surveillance campaign related to the demonstrations in recent days, stirring fear among citizens and making few willing to talk to the press. 

At the same time, the government has used its massive state-controlled media apparatus to drown out criticism of President Xi Jinping and other leaders of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Such has been the case with coverage of protests over lockdown measures. 

All week on the homepage of Xinhau, China’s largest state-run news agency, there has not been any mention of the civil unrest in dozens of major cities. 

Instead on Wednesday, Xinhau prominently displayed a story featuring the launch of a new spaceship.

“If you look at the coverage between the Western media and the Chinese media, you would think we are looking at two different Chinas,” said Yun Sun, a senior fellow director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. “The Chinese official media is not covering this at all. … Western media, I’m sorry to say, is not going to be an agent of change in China, because what they report is [often] blocked in China.”

There have been a number of examples in recent years of Chinese officials censoring Western journalism within China's borders.

Last fall, CNN aired for its American audience footage of the network being censored by Chinese officials as its journalists reported on the case of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who had gone missing after accusing a high-ranking Chinese official of sexual assault.

Chinese media has for months attacked other nations around the world for their response to the pandemic as scrutiny of the coronavirus’s origins has grown. 

A May editorial in the People’s Daily shamed U.S. officials for the number of coronavirus deaths in the United States, months before the latest round of lockdowns in China began. 

“Instead of regarding the virus as the common enemy of humanity, which requires the concerted efforts of all countries in winning the battle against it, Washington has politicized the virus,” the editorial read. “As a result, the public in the US has been misled."

This week, the People’s Daily published an article laying out justification for strict lockdown measures, with a headline warning: “Experts stress readiness for surging cases as winter approaches.” 

The narratives put forth in state media about the recent protests follow a familiar playbook, experts say — one of censorship, distraction or rationalization for government edicts.   

“The Chinese state media is continuing to use several tactics, one of which is to portray China’s approach [to the coronavirus] as superior. They’re also blaming this on foreign forces, which is common,” said Josh Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of a book analyzing China's attempts to become a media, information and influence superpower.

“I see the outcome of this is that China is going to become even more authoritarian and crack down even harder on the population and the few remaining pseudo-independent Chinese journalists as well as foreign journalists.”