DPA: Censorship Row Erupts As Hong Kong Newspaper Sacks Man in Beijing

HONG KONG, May 1, 2002 -- (dpa) A Hong Kong newspaper was accused of self- censorship on Tuesday after sacking its Beijing bureau chief following a dispute over coverage of China.

Veteran reporter Jasper Becker, author of a number of books on China and North Korea, was dismissed on Monday for refusing to cooperate with the newspaper's Hong Kong-based China editor Wang Xiang Wei.

His dismissal follows a meeting between Becker and the Post's editor Thomas Abraham earlier this month when Becker complained at being refused permission to go to Tibet on a 10-day working trip.

Speaking on Hong Kong radio station RTHK Tuesday, Becker said he used the opportunity to raise a number of complaints about alleged self-censorship by the newspaper and Wang.

He said: "I went to see the editor a couple of weeks ago and I said that someone was making it impossible for us to cover our normal reporting duties.

"We were downplaying stories and ignoring major stories in China and I felt this was becoming noticed among journalists and in the diplomatic community in Beijing.

"I explained it to Thomas Abraham because I felt that, as someone with little journalistic experience and little first-hand knowledge of China and Hong Kong, he might not be aware of the extent to which the paper's coverage of China was being changed. Abraham, a former assistant editor of India's The Hindu, took over as editor of the Post last year. Wang Xiangwei was appointed China editor following the controversial departure of his predecessor Willy Lam in November 2000.

Becker said the Post had downplayed stories about Falun Gong, and had not sent reporters to cover major events such as Falun Gong's takeover of a TV station last year and industrial unrest in China's provinces.

"No one from the (Beijing) bureau was asked to do any stories," said Becker. He did not make it clear, however, if the bureau had volunteered to write stories and then been turned down by the Hong Kong desk.

Speaking of the newspaper's refusal to let him go to Tibet, Becker said: "It is quite rare for journalists to get such invitations and this was blocked by the China editor and the editor who said they couldn't see any news value in going to Tibet."

It is understood Becker planned to write a feature story on a woman English teacher working in Tibet and had received an official invitation to go on the trip.

The South China Morning Post rebutted Becker's allegations and said he had been sacked for refusing to work with the China editor.

A spokeswoman told RTHK said the Tibet trip had been refused because it was not considered newsworthy enough to justify the bureau chief taking 10 days out of the office.

A Hong Kong-based reporter had gone on a trip to Tibet only a few months earlier, the spokeswoman said, producing a series of articles.

Respected China commentator Willy Lam resigned from the Post after being removed as China editor in November 2000 following complaints about him by the newspaper's owner, Malaysian Chinese tycoon Robert Kuok, who wrote a letter to his own newspaper criticizing Lam.

More than 150 journalists on the newspaper signed a letter protesting Lam's removal as China editor. Lam later claimed he had been subjected to censorship and had to submit his weekly column for vetting to the then-editor Robert Keatley.

Human rights groups have expressed concern that Hong Kong newspapers have since the 1997 handover of the territory from Britain to China been prone to self-censorship.

Hong Kong maintains a free press under its post-handover mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

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