China editors removed ahead of leadership change

Editors at two outspoken Chinese newspapers have been removed from their posts months before a politically sensitive handover of power in the country, press freedom groups said on Thursday.

The publisher and deputy editor of Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post, Lu Yan and Sun Jian, were reportedly removed on Tuesday, days after the Guangzhou-based New Express moved its chief editor Lu Fumin to a sister title. Press freedom groups linked the moves to a tightening of controls on the media ahead of a 10-yearly leadership change in China’s ruling Communist party that is due to begin later this year. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it was ‘deeply concerned’ by the development, which came in the week top security official Zhou Yongkang called on propaganda chiefs to intensify their efforts.

‘The upcoming change in leadership within China’s Politburo Standing Committee is having a chilling effect on press freedom within the country, with a heightened censorship regime swiftly censoring and punishing any independent political commentary,’ said the IFJ in a statement. Separately, the IFJ said Chinese censors had barred the media from reporting next week’s first anniversary of a deadly high-speed train crash in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, although this could not be confirmed independently.