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The Dangers Of Helping Foreign Journalists In China
August 20, 2008 9:19 AM
By Beth Loyd, ABC News, China
She wasn’t at home when the police came to her house. But her husband and young son were there. The police didn’t say why they had come but their visit was certainly meant as a warning to her.
While foreign visitors are in Beijing for the Olympics marveling at this city’s sparkling venues and skyline, and millions of viewers worldwide are transfixed to their TV sets watching the best athletes in the world compete, there is a dark side to this place that only its own citizens experience.
The woman I speak about has been our ABC News driver for more than a year. When we cover stories we tell her where to go and don’t always tell her what we are going to cover. Not because it’s a secret. She doesn’t ask.
During the Olympics, we went to cover a protest staged by Students for a Free Tibet. The protestors gathered at a park honoring ethnic minorities, nearby the National Stadium. As soon as the banners were unfurled, security guards and police pounced. They quickly removed the banner, and the protesters were deported the same day. These police officers, some in plainclothes, took photos and video of the journalists there to cover the protest. One British journalist was roughed up a bit and briefly detained because he was mistaken for a protester. The police also wrote down license plate numbers.
A day later, the police tracked the license plate to the car company that employs our driver. And the company gave the police her name. The company, we are told, has a policy against their drivers taking foreign journalists to cover any politically sensitive activities. The drivers are told they are to refuse to go there or must try to convince the journalists not to go.
Our driver called us and told us that the police had come to her house and that she was very scared. She said police were always around her apartment building and the neighbors were talking about the police visiting her home. She was afraid of being jailed or of losing her job and not being able to provide for her family. Not because she broke the law, but because she was doing her job.
It’s truly sad that Chinese citizens who work with foreign journalists put themselves at risk by doing so. It is often the same in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Locals who work for foreigners are seen as targets for terrorists. Here in China, they are the target of their own government, which has the power to take away their livelihoods.
This experience changed our driver, who is a friend to all of us. She used to be happy and friendly and eager. Now, she constantly looks over her shoulder. And despite the fact that we told her we would not again ask her to drive us to any sensitive places, she is no longer comfortable doing her job.
We went to cover a story about some Chinese cancer survivors meeting with a U.S. swimmer who has cancer. We told her the topic. But she was still afraid. She drove 10 miles an hour on the highway, clearly distressed, despite our pleas that we would be late. Then she claimed that she was having car troubles, and we had to get out of the van with all of our gear and take taxis to the interview. She just couldn’t cope.
We are using a different driver now while she takes a few days off to rest and get through her experience. We know she will be fine, but it is hard to see her in distress. And it would only cause more problems for her for us to talk to her employer or go to the Foreign Ministry to ask the police to leave her alone.
Foreign journalists working in China are accustomed to being looked at with a suspicious eye. The government here expects us to do stories critical of China. Journalists themselves often experience harassment from police, but without real threat. It is our local staff that has legitimate concerns over helping us do our job.
In China, freedom does not exist the way we know it in the West. One day, I will go back home to America. For the vast majority of 1.3 billion Chinese, that is not an option.
August 20, 2008 in Beth Loyd | Permalink | User Comments (2)
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I don't what this writer (Beth Loyd) was doing there, but, please, don't pretend that Beijingers like what you do there.
It is almost ridiculous to think that the people, the normal policemen, volunteers etc in China are ALL against their government.
When more and more people have seen the real China, you reporters are becoming less and less relevant, at least when writing this type of stories.
Posted by: John Xun | Aug 20, 2008 11:34:50 PM
The truth hurts, does it not Mr. Xun?
You appear to want us to pretend that the PRC is one big happy family with no internal problems, when that is obviously a falsehood...now who is the one who is less relevant?
Posted by: Observer | Aug 21, 2008 1:25:49 AM
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