OPINION> Commentary
Arrest raises questions
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-11 07:43

The arrest of a journalist in Beijing by a local procuratorate in Shanxi goes against the existing laws and may hamper the media's fair supervision of government institutions, says an article in People's Daily's website. The following is an excerpt:

On Dec 4, four policemen from a district of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, took away a CCTV journalist from her home in Beijing to Shanxi that evening. The detained journalist has reportedly interviewed the local people's procuratorate on its abuse of power. However, the local people's procuratorate said that she had been detained on suspicion of taking bribes.

Whether the journalist from CCTV took bribes while conducting interviews in Shanxi is yet unclear. It is still waiting for the final verification of the judicial department. But the issue is that even if this journalist did interview the local people's procuratorate for the purpose of taking bribes, the local procuratorate is not allowed to dispatch its staff to arrest a journalist from Beijing. According to laws, if she really took bribes, it is the procuratorate in Beijing that has the power to detain the journalist who lives there.

The fear is that the procuratorate from Shanxi may arrest the journalist to avenge her report on its abuse of power. Journalists help people expose the dark side of the society and the law should protect them as they conduct fair investigations.

(China Daily 12/11/2008 page8)