Chinese dailies go black to protest attacks on journalists

 

All major Chinese dailies went 'black' today to mark World Press Freedom Day as a protest at the violence targetting journalists during Bersih 3.0 rally last Saturday.


Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, Oriental Daily News, China Press, Guang Ming Daily and Kwang Wah Daily, printed their front pages in black and white to condemn the violence against the pressmen.

Some also featured the yellow ribbon, the symbol of press freedom, on their front pages.

However, English and Malay language dailies did not join the campaign, some even did not report World Press Freedom Day.

The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness of the importance of press freedom and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Other media, including the FM 988, stood in solidarity with the newspapers except the Chinese language radio station owned by key BN coalition partner, the MCA.

The FM 988 official Facebook page uploaded a group photograph this morning, showing members of the station and deejays clad in black.
The newscaster of Ntv7 mandarin news yesterday midnight also donned a black vest with a yellow ribbon.

The 'wear black' campaign was initiated by Chinese Newspaper Photographers Association,a few of whose members were assaulted by police, as well as by concerned members of the public during the rally.

At least 13 journalists, including photographers and video cameramen, were attacked during the rally last Saturday.

Most of them were roughed up by the police even though they produced their media tags and identified themselves as pressmen.

Apart from Klang Valley journalists, their colleagues in Perak and Penang were also in black to convey the same message.

Journalists in Penang surprised Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, state executive councillors and the 40 assemblypersons this morning when they descended on the state legislative assembly along with scores of yellow sheets of papers, telling the lawmakers what the media thinks of their attitude towards press freedom.