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Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 72 Since 2006, no independent forum or web site dealing with political or social issues has been able to survive in China. Information from overseas is censored by the so-called Great Firewall of China, using a variety of filtering and deception methods at the country's limited Internet gateways. The most noticeable appearance of the Internet police is at the Internet cafés, where more than a third of users now carry out their main on-line activities. Since 2003, however, more and more local authorities have ordered the Internet cafés to demand that all customers register with their real identities. In 2004, nearly half of China's 200,000 Internet cafés were restricted or closed by the police for various reasons, while the rest had to instal surveillance software and keep records of the names and addresses of all users. They also had to help the police to perform the remote central monitoring and control of all Internet activities. More and more cyber-dissidents can be identified by the Internet police at an early stage, as soon as they post their first critical online message is posted, and so are warned and harassed before their Internet expressions reach the level of an arrest or conviction. Undoubtedly, this has resulted in self-censorship. So, freedom of speech on the Internet has been effectively suppressed, although arrests and convictions for alleged cyber-offenses have declined since 2003/2004. Discussion: Legal hot-line for journalists The World Press Freedom Committee is spearheading planning for a hot-line for journalists arrested or detained in China. According to WPFC Chairman Richard Winfield, “We’re getting a broad group of organizations to work out a system whereby legal counsel will be available for those journalists who run into a legal emergency in China.” The following summarizes discussion on the issue. Richard Winfield We have begun organizing a coalition of NGOs and news organizations to work out a system whereby legal counsel will be available for those who run into a legal emergency. Four years ago in New York City, where I am from, there was a Republican National Convention where there were wide-scale protests. Among the thousands rounded up by the police were eight journalists. They spent up to 24 hours in detention. We got lawyers for them and none of them was charged. This effort has been going on since 1972. Media defense lawyers working pro bono consult with the police in advance and then, if a journalist is arrested, go to the police station, go to the courthouse, go to the jail to win release of the journalist. That is the
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 73 model we hope to apply in Beijing. It will not be an easy time to arrange to select a group of Chinese lawyers This is undoubtedly a politically sensitive matter and government approval may be needed. These lawyers will encounter unquestionably more than the usual amount of harassment and intimidation. I said that eight journalists were arrested four years ago in New York, out of 2,000 journalists who visited. If you extrapolate that for 30,000 journalists in Beijing over two weeks, that means 240 journalists could be arrested there. Agnès Gaudu I can imagine that foreign journalists going to Beijing might get into trouble, but that is not what I am afraid of or the most concerned with. It is more appropriate to ask about funding lawyers for Chinese journalists, who are in very much bigger danger. I ask the editors here and all the organizations here concerned with press freedom and freedom of expression, are you actually organizing some kind of solidarity with Chinese colleagues? Jocelyn Ford Of course, foreign correspondents are most concerned about our sources, and I don't know if there is any possible legal representation that could be provided if journalists were to find that sources were detained after speaking to them. As for foreign correspondents, if we are detained, they will release us. We are not in that great danger, and it is unusual that we would need a lawyer on the spot. You try to talk your way out of the situation. You call the ministry, you call your embassy. Jean-Philippe Béja As resources usually are limited I think we should concentrate on what is useful. The worst that can happen to a foreign journalist is to be expelled from the country. You never see a foreign journalist being arrested and charged. The only ones who can be are foreign journalists of Chinese descent. What I think is, if you have means, if you have resources, you should lecture journalists about the use of sources and about how you can endanger people when you interview them, sometimes before a camera. I think this is the most important thing. You won't need lawyers for foreign journalists, you will need lawyers for people who might get into trouble because they gave information, because they gave an interview to a foreign journalist. And also for the fixers, because as we know, the 30,000 journalists when they get to China will need to have helpers. They will hire Chinese people, students or whatever, and maybe these students won’t be aware of the risks they take. What I think you should do as organizations for press freedom is to educate foreign journalists. This I think is basic and much more important. Sharon Hom I think it’s the Chinese domestic journalists who are going to be at the greatest risk. Most of the correspondents will be able to handle themselves. One thing we should point out is that with the new identification system at the border everyone will have biometric face recognition data stored on a central server. In addition, more than 30,000 cameras have been installed for biometric recognition in the subways, in the public spaces and in all the Olympic venues. I think people need to be very aware of whether there is a camera when they do interviews. We are trying to map where the cameras are, so we are going to be
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