7 at Chinese Paper Held After Articles on New SARS Case

[Ruby Romaine]

BEIJING, Jan. 7 — The police stormed the offices of one of China's feistiest newspapers and detained the top editor and six other officials in what many journalists regard as retribution for aggressive reporting on a recent SARS case, employees said today.

The crackdown on the newspaper, Southern Metropolis Daily, came soon after it became the first news media outlet to report on the fresh outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Guangzhou, the paper's hometown. The paper's investigation late last month prompted authorities to confirm that China had its first suspected case of SARS since the epidemic petered out last summer.

Southern Metropolis Daily also came under heavy political pressure last spring when it exposed the beating death of a migrant worker in police custody, a case that eventually prompted the central government to abolish longstanding rules that allowed the police to detain migrants at will.





http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/07/international/asia/07CND-CHIN.html

[David__77]

1. I wonder if the articles were accurate.

I know that this isn't the point with regard to press freedom, but I do wonder if the articles were well-founded or were more on the levels of rumor. The Chinese are ultra-concerned with stanching rumors that they think will "undermine social stability."

[demdave]

2. Nice apology

You must be able to reach very high. <sarcasm>

The Chinese buried the existence of SARS when it first came out to the point of doing real damage. What makes you think that in this case it is that they are concerned about journalistic integrity?