Though behind the world, still beyond the past
China’s freedom of speech has been progressing, says chief of Thomson Reuters China.
By Anthony Wong
HKSYU, MAR 27-Has China been in progress in freedom of speech in past two decades? For David Schlesinger, the chairman Thomson Reuters China, the answer is ‘yes’.
Throughout the past decade, China has been urged to improve human rights. Being a correspondent in China for decades, Schlesinger witnessed the contrast in freedom of speech.
‘In the times of the June 4th Massacre, every reporter and correspondent could only follow Xinhua’s stories as the only news source,’ said Schlesinger.
In contrast, in the era of internet, the development of Weibo, a local ‘twitter-like’ social network in China, has taken part of the role of news source, especially for breaking news about natural disasters, according to Schlesinger.
‘Net users might let out their political opinions on Weibo, which was unimaginable 20 years ago,’ added Schlesinger.
((received))
