Darkened Screen: Constraints on Foreign Journalists in China

DATE: Thursday 3 November 2016
TIME: 4:30-6:00 p.m.
VENUE: MWT4 (Meng Wah Complex, 1/F)

ABSTRACT:

On September 22, PEN America, the largest of more than 100 centres of PEN International, released Darkened Screen, a report detailing worsening constraints on foreign journalists working in China. The report spells out how Chinese authorities are rewriting the bounds of acceptable coverage, aiming to place a widening array of pressing subjects – including high-level corruption and China’s economic woes – off limits.

This panel will discuss the findings of the PEN America report, drawing on the experiences of correspondents who have worked in China for both Hong Kong and international media. The panel will be moderated by David Bandurski, editor of the JMSC’s China Media Project website and author of Dragons In Diamond Village, a book of reportage on urbanisation and rural activism in China.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS:

Suzanne Nossel

Suzanne Nossel was named executive director of PEN American Center in January, 2013. Her career has spanned government service and leadership roles in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining PEN, she served as executive director of Amnesty International USA. Before joining Amnesty, Nossel served as deputy assistant secretary of state for International Organizations at the U.S. Department of State, where she was responsible for multilateral human rights, humanitarian affairs, women’s issues, public diplomacy, press, and congressional relations. Nossel is also a columnist for Foreign Policy and has published hundreds of blog entries, op-ed pieces, and numerous scholarly articles. She is the author of Presumed Equal: What America’s Top Women Lawyers Really Think About Their Firms, and has served as a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, the Center for American Progress and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Keith Richburg

Now director of the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies Centre, Keith B. Richburg spent 34 years with The Washington Post as a reporter, editor and primarily a foreign correspondent. Starting as a summer intern and City Hall reporter, he moved to the Foreign Desk in 1986. He was the Washington Post’s Bureau Chief in China from 2010-2013, based in Beijing and Shanghai. Prior to his posting in China, Richburg was the Post’s Bureau Chief for Southeast Asia based in Manila from 1986-90; Bureau Chief for Africa from 1991-1995; Bureau Chief for Hong Kong and Southeast Asia from 1995-2000, covering the Hong Kong Handover and the Asian economic crisis; and Bureau Chief in Paris covering Western Europe and terrorism from 2000-2005. His coverage has won numerous awards, including two George Polk Awards, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His 1997 book, “Out Of America,” chronicles his travels across Africa.

Zhang Jieping

Zhang Jieping is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong-based media start-upInitium, a Chinese-language publication covering events in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Zhang was previously executive editor of the online magazine iSun Affairs. As a reporter for Hong Kong’s Yazhou Zhoukan (Asiaweek), Zhang covered politics, urbanisation, and the growth of civil society in China. Between 2007 and 2010, she received awards from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) for Excellence in Investigative Reporting, Excellence in Human Rights Reporting, and Excellence in Reporting on the Environment. In 2010, SOPA named her Journalist of the Year. In 2011, she received the CKS Award for Aspiring Young Communicators.

~ ALL ARE WELCOME ~