Dear Friends,
I
have been fortunate enough to have been interviewed many times by the
Voice of America (see the photo above, with Guangcheng Chen), which has
enabled me to get behind China's Great Firewall and inform the Chinese
people directly of abuses in connection with China's One Child (now Two
Child) Policy. VOA has a proud history of courageous journalism,
including broadcasts behind enemy lines during the Second World War.
Recent troubling events have led to a State Department investigation as
to whether the Chinese government is exerting pressure to censor VOA.
Here's a letter I wrote with Guangcheng Chen about this crucial
investigation. Many top Chinese human rights activists signed as well.
Reggie
To Whom It May Concern:
We
have learned that the Office of Inspector General of the United States
Department of State has decided to start an investigation of “management
decisions” giving rise to the Guo Wengui interview incident at Voice of
America. We applaud the OIG’s decision to investigate the VOA
Management and have some suggestions regarding the investigation.
For
those unfamiliar with the Guo Wengui interview incident, on April 19 of
this year, Voice of America China Branch was set to broadcast a
three-hour live interview of Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire with
close ties to the Chinese State Security apparatus, who claimed to have
information about high-level official corruption in the Chinese
regime. Specifically, Guo stated his intent publicly to expose how
China’s State Security apparatus pressured the Chinese business
community into financing its infiltration into organizations globally,
as well as its monitoring of Chinese citizens.
This
exposure of widespread official corruption had the potential to afford a
rare revelation of the machinations of the police state to those who
are its innocent victims. VOA promoted the upcoming interview heavily
for a week, with the full knowledge and consent of VOA management.
Instead,
VOA’s upper-level management abruptly cut short the interview
mid-broadcast, to the consternation of the Chinese audience, many of
whom stated that they believe that VOA was kowtowing to censorship and
pressure from the Chinese Communist Party. VOA has since suffered a
sharp loss of its viewership and reputation in China, and has indeed
become the object of mockery.
Equally
disturbing, five journalists involved in the interview were put on
administrative leave pending “investigation.” Five months later, four
remain on involuntary leave. Has the investigation of the “Mandarin
Five” been concluded? If so, why has no report been issued?
Read More.
