Yuen-Ying Chan: “China cannot impose draconian controls forever” (EN)

20 April 2016, with Yuen-ying ChanMedia freedom in China has suffered under president Xi Jinping. In the latest press freedom index of Reporters without Borders China ranks at the bottom of the list followed only by Syria, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea. These are hard times for journalists in China, says professor Yuen-ying Chan. She is the founding director of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at Hongkong University. But she also argues that despite tight censorship and increased controls, there are still spaces for independent and investigative journalism in China. And in the long run there is a glimmer of hope: “China cannot impose draconian controls forever.”