Free press in China could have helped prevent coronavirus pandemic, says watchdog

Reporters Without Borders says early suppression of information and media reports proven ‘deadly’

A free press in China could have prevented the coronavirus outbreak from turning into a global pandemic, a leading watchdog has said.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has criticised the country’s authorities for their programme of censorship in the early stages of the pandemic, saying that the suppression of information and media reports has proven “deadly”.

It also warned that strongman leaders are capitalising on the current climate to curtail media freedoms, highlighting the example of Hungarian president Viktor Orban who has secured new powers to punish journalists if their reporting undermines the government’s Covid-19 response.

“If there had been a free press in China, if these whistleblowers hadn’t been silenced, then this could have been prevented from turning into a pandemic,” Rebecca Vincent, director of the RSF’s UK bureau, told CNN Business.

“Reporting the truth at the earliest possible moment would have allowed the rest of the world to react probably earlier and probably more seriously. The consequences [of stifling media freedom] are actually deadly.”

Chinese authorities have been accused of widespread censorship during the pandemic, having suppressed coronavirus-related information last year before later deleting a number of media articles.

According to one report posted on WeChat, which has since been removed, 41 news stories written by major Chinese publications were deleted or censored from 23 January to 13 March.

Analysis from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk school of global affairs and public policy also found that Chinese social media censors blocked neutral information about the coronavirus outbreak.

Hundreds of keywords and phrases, including “Wuhan seafood market”, were censored in late December, as doctors sought to warn about the new virus.

Citizen Lab’s report showed between January and February, “a wide breadth of content” was censored on WeChat and YY, a Chinese live-streaming platform, including criticisms of the Chinese government.

“Our findings show that information on Covid-19 is being tightly controlled on Chinese social media,” the report said.

“Censorship of Covid-19 content started at early stages of the outbreak and continued to expand blocking a wide range of speech, from criticism of the government to officially sanctioned facts and information.”

Outrage was also sparked within China following the death of doctor Li Wenliang from Covid-19.

The 34-year-old had warned colleagues in late December about coronavirus but was detained by police in Wuhan on 3 January for “spreading false rumours”. He was forced to sign a police document to admit he had breached the law and had “seriously disrupted social order.”

China has pushed back against accusations of censorship and defended its early handling of the outbreak.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said: “China upholds the basic national policy of opening up to the outside word, and welcomes foreign media and journalists.

“We are opposed to ideological biases against China, publication of fake news in the name of so-called press freedom as well as behaviour that are against journalistic ethics.”

The ministry also singled out RSF, saying that “this organisation has always held deep-rooted prejudice against China and their so-called report is not worth rebutting.”

Ms Vincent said that suppression of important information and reports pertaining to the coronavirus outbreak had real-life consequences.

“Sometimes we can talk about press freedom in a theoretical way, but this shows the impact can at times be physical. It can affect all of our health,” she said.

Her warnings came as the RSF released its annual review of global press freedoms, which surveys the state of the media in 180 countries and territories.

The UK stands at 35 in the World Press Freedom Index, having slipped down two places from last year – largely due to the fallout triggered by the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry and the death threats made against reporters in Northern Ireland.

Norway remains in the top spot for the fourth year running. The US is ranked 45th.

2020 World Press Freedom Index​ (selected countries):

1. Norway

2. Finland

3. Denmark

4. Sweden

5. Netherlands

6. Jamaica

7. Costa Rica

8. Switzerland

9. New Zealand

10. Portugal

11. Germany

16. Canada

26. Australia

34. France

35. United Kingdom

45. United States

142. India

149. Russia

177. China