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Letters | Why China should value, not silence, those like Zhang Zhan

  • Highly centralised governments should value truthful reporting by local reporters

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Zhang Zhan, 37, a former Shanghai lawyer and citizen journalist who covered the early days of Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak, has been jailed for four years over “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”. Photo: AFP/YouTube
My thanks to Jerome Cohen for his analysis and tribute to Chinese former lawyer Zhang Zhan for her courageous reporting on the Covid-19 crisis in Wuhan (“Why Covid-19 citizen journalist Zhang Zhan’s fate deserves greater scrutiny”, January 3).
Highly centralised governments should value truthful reporting by local reporters. Often, local officials will conceal problems from the central authorities. It should not be necessary for the central authorities to pretend that everything is perfect.

Reporters, whether independent or working for news media, should only be prosecuted if they publish false information or reveal military or other high-level state secrets. Pointing out imperfections in local or central governments should not warrant prosecution.

Bruce Couchman, Ottawa, Canada

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