3 rival US newspapers publish joint open letter urging China not to expel their journalists

Letter urges China to reverse its decision to expel US journalists. China had justified move saying it responded to 'unreasonable oppression' of Chinese journalists in US.

Copies of various newspapers including Financial Times (left) and International New York Times (right). | Photographer: May Tse | via Getty Images | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The publishers of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal Tuesday released an open letter criticising the Chinese government’s decision to expel three American journalists reporting for their respective publications in China.

Asserting the need for news coverage in the times of a pandemic, the letter said, “…this moment underscores the urgent importance of probing, accurate, on-the-ground reporting from the centers of the pandemic and of sharing the information, insights and lessons that reporting reveals as widely as possible.”

The letter was signed by publishers of the three rival newspapers, William Lewis from The Wall Street Journal, Fred Ryan from The Washington Post and A.G. Sulzberger from The New York Times.

Earlier in March, the Chinese government had expelled 13 American journalists, saying it had responded to “unreasonable oppression” of Chinese journalists in the US.

‘Damaging and reckless’

Picking up on the diplomatic dispute between the US and China, the letter said, “This move — made in retaliation for recent expulsions by the United States government — is one that we would protest under any circumstances. But it is uniquely damaging and reckless as the world continues the struggle to control this disease, a struggle that will require the free flow of reliable news and information.”

The letter added, “We strongly urge the Chinese government to reverse its decision to force the Americans working for our news organisations to leave the country and, more broadly, to ease the growing crackdown on independent news organisations that preceded this action. The media is collateral damage in a diplomatic dispute between the Chinese and U.S. governments, threatening to deprive the world of critical information at a perilous moment.”

The open letter highlighted that the three news organisations are “rivals”.

“We compete with each other on the biggest stories, including this one. But on this matter we speak with a single voice. Both countries — and the rest of the world — benefit from having talented journalists, many of them fluent in Chinese and versed in Chinese culture, cover the world’s second largest economy, the center of global manufacturing, and, unfortunately, a population hard hit by one of the worst pandemics of modern times. Even when this crisis passes we believe both countries will continue to benefit from freer access to news and information about the other.”