方舟子的Blog

中国新闻从业者处境雪上加霜

记者Austin Ramzy，北京2010年9月8日

美国《时代》周刊

（翻译：Yush）

北京大街上，有人将乙醚气味的东西喷向方是民。方是民很明白随后将发生什么，随即跑开。另一个人手持铁锤开始追赶。凶手挥舞铁锤但未命中，就将铁锤扔向正在逃离的方是民，击中背部。方是民继续往前跑，并躲过了8月29日发生的这次袭击，身受轻伤。

方是民是一名自由新闻从业者，以“科学警察”闻名中国。他从事曝光抄袭剽窃、可疑的科学主张以及名人的伪造简历。他最近意识到，他所做的工作最终会招致曝光对象的暴力报复。“我认为那两名打手是某个骗局被我揭露的人所雇佣的，”他在电子邮件中说：“我早就收到恐吓电话和电子邮件，而且以前还被人跟踪、恐吓过。”

中国很久以来就是对记者不友善之地。出版物面临政府严厉审查，逾规的记者、编辑则被降级或解雇。据保护记者委员会，中国去年被监禁的记者达24名，为世界领先。而据巴黎的记者无国界组织编制的年度新闻自由指数，中国几乎垫底（去年在175个国家和地区中排第168位）。

今年夏天北京发生的两次对新闻从业者的袭击则提醒人们，对新闻报道的威胁已经不局限新闻审查，而是蔓延到赤裸裸地使用暴力。就在方是民在大街上被追打前的两个月，6月24日，《财经》杂志编辑方玄昌快回到家时，遭到两名挥舞铁棍的人的连续击打，头顶上留下深长的伤口，不得不到当地医院缝合。

方是民说，他认为这两次袭击与他们所从事的工作有关。方玄昌被袭击后，“很明显我将会是下一个目标。”方是民说。他们两人相互熟悉，并几次合作，其中，科技界的欺诈是他们主要关注方向，而且，经济急速发展的中国就像当年美国的狂野西部，为他们提供了层出不穷的揭露对象。从方玄昌在中国媒体《科学新闻》和《中国新闻周刊》任职开始，他已经揭露了多个鼓吹医治癌症、尿失禁等的可疑疗法的江湖医生。

方是民笔名方舟子，在沿海省份福建长大，学习生物学，1995年在密歇根州立大学获得生物化学博士。在研究生学习期间，他创建了新语丝网站，最初主要目的是文学和创作。他说，当他1990年代末回中国时，对“伪科学和迷信”的流行感到震惊。他最后改变了他的网站的主题，与这种倾向作斗争，并倡导科学。他说：“理想情况下，这项工作本应由一些更正规、有组织的监督机构来从事，比如专业组织或政府机构。但中国没有这些，所以，个人监督成为必需。”

最近，方舟子质疑了大型企业新华都实业集团CEO唐骏的简历，其中声称他毕业于著名的加州理工学院。唐骏后来说，这个说法是别人搞的，他实际上是从西太平洋大学拿的博士学位。不过，方是民进一步调查发现，西太平洋大学未经认证，美国政府总审计局称其为文凭工场。而就在方舟子被袭击前，他刚刚接受了关于著名道教大师李一的电视采访。李一声称具有超自然能力，后被发现是伪造的。李一因涉嫌强奸前弟子而被调查，警方后来说这些指控没有根据。

《中国青年报》冰点周刊原主编李大同说，像方舟子这样的新闻从业者“在中国社会很少见”。除了受到来自政府审查的压力，收入低下的中国新闻从业者还经常受到“红包”（商人和官员买正面报道的钱）的诱惑。这就给了像方是民这样愿意与既得利益者作斗争的新闻从业者很多机会和责任。李大同说：“方舟子触及了权势和商家，以及支持那些商家的官员，因为任何商家后面都有官员在支持。因此，这是要勇于面对权势的问题。总的来说，中国的媒体没做好这项工作。”

与权势作对带来了危险。北京警方正在调查这两起袭击案件，但至今未抓获凶手。案件未破，给调查性记者和揭发者带来了恐惧气氛。“我会继续做我正在做的事，”方舟子说，“当然，我会采取一些安全措施。”然而，不幸的是，对其他作敏感报道而面临同样危险的中国记者来说，最安全的措施，大概就是不做敏感报道。

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2016353,00.html

In China, the Bad News for Reporters Gets Worse

By Austin Ramzy / Beijing Wednesday, Sep. 08, 2010

When the man on the Beijing street sprayed something that smelled like ether onto his face, Fang Shimin had a pretty good idea what would come next. So he ran. Another man began chasing him with a metal hammer. The assailant swung and missed, then threw the hammer at Fang as he fled, grazing him on the back. Fang kept running and escaped the Aug. 29 attack with minor injuries.

Fang is a freelance journalist who has come to be known in China as the “science cop,” specializing in exposing plagiarism, dodgy scientific claims and fraudulent résumés of prominent figures. He has recently felt his work would eventually cause one of his subjects to lash out. “I think the hit men were hired by someone whose fraud had been exposed by me,” he says by e-mail. “I’ve received threatening phone calls and e-mails, and was followed and threatened before.”

China has long been an unfriendly place for journalists. Publications face stringent government censorship, and reporters and editors who push the boundaries can be demoted or sacked. The nation leads the world in jailing journalists for their work, with 24 in prison last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. And it ranks near the bottom of the annual index of press freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based advocacy group. (Last year it was placed 168th out of 175 countries and territories.)

But two attacks on journalists in Beijing this summer serve as a reminder that the threats to the press can extend beyond censorship to outright violence. Two months before Fang Shimin was chased down the street, Fang Xuanchang, an editor at Caijing magazine, was struck repeatedly by two men wielding metal bars while walking near his house on June 24. He sustained a long gash to the back of his head that had to be stitched at a local hospital.

Fang Shimin says he thought both attacks were related to the men’s work. After Fang Xuanchang was attacked, “it was apparent that I would be the next target,” Fang Shimin says. The two men are acquaintances and sometime collaborators. Scientific charlatanry is one of their main interests, and the Wild West nature of China’s booming economy has given them no shortage of material. Beginning with his time at Chinese publications Science News and China Newsweek, Fang Xuanchang had exposed multiple quack doctors who promoted dubious cures for everything from cancer to incontinence.

Fang Shimin, who writes under the pen name Fang Zhouzi, grew up in coastal Fujian province and studied biology, receiving a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Michigan State University in 1995. He created his New Threads blog as a grad student, originally to focus on literature and creative writing. When he returned to China in the late 1990s, Fang says he was shocked by the popularity of “pseudo sciences and superstitions.” He eventually changed the subject of his blog to combat the trend and promote science. “In an ideal world, some more formal and organized watchdogs … professional organizations or a governmental agency would be in place,” he says. “But China does not have these, so individual watchdogs become essential.”

Recently, Fang Shimin has questioned the résumé of Tang Jun, CEO of the conglomerate New Huadu Industrial Group, which stated that Tang graduated from the prestigious California Institute of Technology. Tang later said that claim had been promoted by others, and he had in fact received a Ph.D. from the Pacific Western University. But Fang investigated further and noted that school was an unaccredited institution that the U.S. Government Accountability Office called a diploma mill. Just before he was attacked, Fang Shimin had done a television interview on the case of Li Yi, a popular Taoist master who claimed to have supernatural powers that were later found to have been faked. Li was investigated for allegedly raping a former student, though police say those charges are unfounded.

Li Datong, former editor of Freezing Point, a groundbreaking supplement to the China Youth Daily newspaper, says that journalists like Fang Shimin, a.k.a. Fang Zhouzi, are “hard to come by in Chinese society.” Aside from the pressures of censorship, low-paid Chinese journalists are often tempted by “red packets” — cash payments from businesspeople and officials meant to buy positive coverage. That leaves a lot of opportunity — and responsibility — for journalists like Fang who are willing to confront vested interests. “Fang Zhouzi touches upon power and business and the officials who support those businesses, because with any business, behind it there are officials in support,” says Li. “So it’s a matter of facing up to power. Chinese media, generally speaking, don’t do a good job of this.”

Facing up to power brings risk. Beijing police are investigating both journalists’ attacks, but so far have made no arrests. The unresolved cases contribute to a climate of fear facing investigative journalists and whistle-blowers. “I will continue what I am doing,” says Fang Shimin. “And of course I will take some security measures.” But for other Chinese journalists facing similar risks pursuing a sensitive story, the best security measure, unfortunately, might be to ignore it.