China: Mistreatment Of Foreign Journalists Continue With The State Doxxing Megha Rajagoapalan
Location: China, Shanghai
Date: September 30, 2020
American reporter for Buzzfeed News, and member of The Coalition For Women In Journalism, Megha Rajagoapalan has become the latest foreign journalist to be victimised by China, which has a history of retaliating against news organizations and individual journalists for critical coverage.
Since the Chinese Foreign Ministry has posted my personal info online, I'll share the email in which they rejected my visa application. It's dated May 9, 2018 and came months after ministry officials assured me I'd have no problems getting a new visa after many years in China. pic.twitter.com/kpTV4LUcNX
— Megha Rajagopalan (@meghara) September 29, 2020
Megha’s work visa and accreditation was not extended as a retaliatory practice China uses against foreign journalists who are critical about the government. Megha has been covering exquisitely on the ill-treatment of Uighur citizens, documenting the atrocities committed against the minority Turkic-Muslim group. The journalist was forced out of China back in 2018 over her coverage on the same issue and went back to the country on a travel visa.
According to New York Times, Megha Rajagopalan was the first reporter for Buzzfeed permitted to work on a regular basis in China by the Foreign Ministry. The ministry and security agencies have traditionally not allowed online-only news publications to have reporters officially live in China.
Chinese government which rejected Megha’s visa application then went on with sharing her personal information online. Two years later, Megha is still getting targeted by trolls online due to the malicious act of the Chinese officials.
Foreign journalists in China are often threatened by both legal harassment and online attacks. The Coalition For Women In Journalism denounces such practices and demands the authorities to act within reason in order to protect the already targeted freedom of the press in China.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.
