Foreign correspondents are the world's window on a country, witnessing, deciphering and interpreting. When they are denied the right to do their work, as has happened with Al Jazeera's only English-language reporter in China, there is bound to be a negative reaction. Melissa Chan's expulsion and Beijing's refusal to allow the pan-Arab news network to have a replacement has predictably created a storm of criticism. By letting journalists report, a government benefits and presents an image of being open and tolerant; by closing the door, it says the opposite.
Chan, an American, is the first foreign correspondent expelled by China in 14 years. With her departure on Monday night, Al Jazeera's English bureau was forced to close. Speculation is rife as to what prompted the Foreign Ministry's decision to refuse a visa, with the journalist's and network's reports of social injustices invariably being turned to. Such negative attention is not what China wants or needs.
Rather, as any government would prefer, Beijing seeks the positive image that its international state-run media operations portray. They give China's take on itself to the world, a view that is sometimes at odds with that put forward by foreign correspondents. Those journalists have freedoms generally not allowed to domestic reporters, leaving them with the ability of giving a voice to the voiceless
Foreign journalists have at times had difficulty doing their jobs since the Arab Spring of protests erupted in the Middle East and North Africa last year. Domestic journalists have been all but muzzled in covering the two biggest stories so far this year, the downfall of Chongqing's Communist Party chief Bo Xilai and the flight of blind activist Chen Guangcheng to the US embassy. Their non-mainland counterparts have had greater latitude, although some have been harassed and faced threats of having visas revoked. Authorities understandably want a trouble-free transition to a new party leadership, but preventing correspondents from doing their work is no way to go about it. Nor is it good for China's image at so important a time.