New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal urge China to reconsider expulsion of US journalists
- A joint letter from three news groups said the media is suffering ‘collateral damage’ from a diplomatic dispute between the two countries
In an unprecedented move, the publishers of three major American newspapers have written an open letter to the Chinese government, appealing to Beijing to reverse its decision forcing out 13 of their journalists.
The publishers of The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times said that the government’s expulsion of their journalists working in China was “threatening to deprive the world of critical information at a perilous moment”.
“We strongly urge the Chinese government to reverse its decision to force the Americans working for our news organizations to leave the country and, more broadly, to ease the growing crackdown on independent news organisations that preceded this action,” the publishers wrote, saying that the news media has become collateral damage in a diplomatic spat between the US and China.
On March 17, Beijing’s foreign ministry revoked the press credentials of American journalists from the Times, Post and Journal, giving them each 10 days to return their media passes and effectively expelling them from the country.
Beijing is also requiring the three papers, along with Voice of America and Time magazine, to share information about their staff and operations in China with the government, and has said that it would take further “reciprocal measures” on visas, administrative review, and reporting for American journalists working in the China.
