Several foreign journalists have been hindered and threatened in reporting the flood in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou. Including the German TV and print journalist Mathias Bölinger, who has been reporting from China for many years. He was on behalf of the Deutsche Welle traveled to central China’s Henan Province to cover the aftermath of the extreme rainfall, which killed at least 58 people.
The incident was preceded by the criticism of some Internet users on the Weibo blog portal of a post by the British correspondent Robin Brant, who questioned the measures taken by the local government. At least twelve people drowned in a flooded subway during the flood. The central government had asked local authorities to review their contingency plans before the floods.
Even though many of those affected criticized the authorities, Internet users attacked the British journalist, claiming that he was deliberately twisting facts, and calling him a “foreigner spreading rumors”. In advance had already the state Global Times the broadcaster’s reporting attacked. The Henans Communist Youth Association asked its 1.6 million followers on Weibo to find out the whereabouts of the British journalist.
Mathias Bölinger: “They yelled that I was a bad guy and that I should stop denigrating China.”
The next day the office manager of the American got there Los Angeles Times Alice Su and the German journalist Mathias Bölinger in an angry crowd, the two reporters conducted interviews with flood victims at this time. The group of people surrounded the journalists because they mistook Bölinger for his British colleague.
Subsequently, Su and Bölinger reported on the incident on Twitter. Bölinger wrote that he had been followed and photographed again and again during the day. Some of the group pushed him and yelled, “They yelled that I was a bad guy and should stop denigrating China.” One person tried to snatch his cell phone out of his hand. He had been asked several times whether he was the BBC reporter Brant. “I don’t know what would have happened if I had really been him,” wrote Bölinger, who also described the events in a phone call with the SZ. On Twitter, the journalist spoke of a “scary” working environment for media currently in China. Video recordings confirm the incident.
Other foreign journalists also reported violent attacks in the city.
Several members of the media concerned have received death threats since then. Other foreign journalists also reported violent attacks in the city. The Swiss journalist Martin Aldrovandi reported on Twitter that those affected freely gave information until the authorities appeared and the interviews ended. “Here, too, there is growing distrust of foreign journalists,” commented Aldrovandi.
The blog portal China Digital Times, which documents Internet censorship in China, published leaked instructions from the authorities to local counties. These should ensure that their owners do not speak to foreign media through on-site visits to shops. Every “incident” should be reported.
The Foreign Correspondents Club (FCCC), an association of foreign journalists in China, was “very concerned”. In particular, the involvement of organizations linked to the Communist Party directly endangers the physical safety of foreign journalists and hinders free reporting. The FCCC was “disappointed and dismayed at the growing hostility towards foreign media in China”.
The number of foreign journalists in China has fallen to an all-time low since 2019. At least 20 journalists were expelled last year. Most recently, in March, a BBC correspondent left the country out of concern for his safety.