Chinese Journalists Punished For Citing Historian

Chen Zhong, president of the Guangzhou-based biweekly Nanfeng Chuang (Window on the South), was removed from his post, though not dismissed, and editor Zhao Lingmin was suspended during an internal meeting on Monday, international news reports said. These measures were related to Zhao's July 25 interview with Taiwanese historian Tang Chi-hua, according to a letter the editor wrote to his colleagues that was published online by the Hong Kong University-based China Media Project.

"Punishing Chen Zhong and Zhao Lingmin for quoting a historian is absurd and a sign of the tightening restrictions on professional reporters across China this year," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "Some of China's best journalists are falling victim to the Communist Party's sustained efforts to stamp out views it fears."