1,000 Journalists Ask Beijing to Approve More Press Freedom

More than 1,000 Chinese journalists working for the tightly controlled official news media submitted a petition to the government Tuesday seeking greater press freedom.

The petition criticizes restrictions on coverage of recent pro-democracy student demonstrations and seeks a review of the recent dismissal of the liberal reformist Qin Benli as editor of the Shanghai weekly World Economic Herald.

Under Qin’s stewardship, the Herald has been one of China’s most important newspapers, often the first to seriously discuss new reform initiatives. Qin was dismissed last month at the order of the Shanghai branch of the Communist Party for trying to publish articles deemed too close to the views of the student protesters.

Journalists would normally risk serious damage to their careers by signing such a petition, but it is not clear that China’s top leaders are united in genuine opposition to their activities.

The petition, which seeks a dialogue between journalists and senior Communist Party officials, was delivered to the government-controlled All-China Journalists Assn. by several hundred reporters and editors. It was signed by 1,013 journalists representing more than 30 news organizations.