China: 34 journalists jailed over official documents leak

At least 34 Chinese journalists were jailed last year for charges ranging from inciting subversion to revealing state secrets, a rights group said Sunday, as Beijing tightened media restrictions.Investigative journalism in China has gained strength in recent years, despite a strict censorship system aimed at rooting out information deemed a threat to the ruling Communist Party.But in its annual report, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said censorship restrictions continue to pose a threat to journalists whose reporting oversteps official guidelines.Ambiguous inciting subversion and revealing state secrets laws contributed to the imprisonment of at least 34 Chinese journalists, the group said.It cited the example of Qi Chonghuai, whose original four-year jail sentence in 2008 for extortion and blackmail after he exposed government corruption in the eastern province of Shandong was extended by eight years last year.The state-run All-China Journalists Association was not available for comment when contacted by AFP.The report comes a day after an international journalists association said China had tightened restrictions on the media in 2011 in response to domestic calls for greater openness and popular uprisings in the Middle East.Authorities last year were spooked by anonymous online calls for people to take part in Arab-style protests in China in a so-called Jasmine Revolution, and are also jittery about an upcoming leadership transition in 2012.In a move that sparked huge concern in the media world in July, the China Economic Times -- one of Chinas leading newspapers -- shut down its respected investigative unit.Later that year, Chinas propaganda authorities placed two of Beijings most popular and colourful newspapers -- the Beijing News and the Beijing Times -- under new management, in what critics said was a bid to censor the news.HRW said in its report that physical violence against journalists who reported on sensitive topics also remained a problem last year.In September, Li Xiang, a 30-year-old reporter in the central province of Henan, was murdered in a crime widely believed to be linked to him exposing a scandal involving the sale of tainted cooking oil.