Crackdown on market reporting shakes China biz journalists

Duncan Hewitt of the International Business Times writes about the condition of business journalism in China in the aftermath of the government arresting a reporter for reporting on big drops in its stock market.

Hewitt writes, “Two months later, that spectacle appears to have delivered its intended result, sowing alarm among China’s financial journalists and prompting many to avoid reporting on subjects that had previously been seen as fair game, several writers told the International Business Times.

“‘This is a big change,’ said one young financial journalist, who spoke on condition he not be named lest he jeopardize his job. ‘In the past we always felt that being a financial journalist was the safest job. If you wrote about legal issues, it could be dangerous, a lot of journalists got arrested, but finance and economy seemed to be relatively safer topics. But this case shows us that writing about this area isn’t safe. It will lead to more self-censorship.’

“While journalists landing in trouble for breaching the party line is hardly new in China, Wang’s case has resonated as an indication that that line itself has shifted: Now, even financial and economic news constitute potential danger zones, alongside coverage on human rights and the wielding of Communist Party power. This represents a shift whose ramifications could be felt far beyond China, as anxious investors seek to understand the scope and consequences of the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.”

Read more here.