Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan’s search for the truth during the early days of the pandemic was seen as a threat by the authorities

Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan’s search for the truth during the early days of the pandemic was seen as a threat by the authorities

A Chinese citizen journalist who has been in prison for four years after reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan is due to be released on Monday.

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, travelled to Wuhan in February 2020 to document the Chinese government’s response to what became the start of a global pandemic. She shared her reports on X (then known as Twitter), YouTube and WeChat. She was one of the few independent Chinese reporters on the ground as Wuhan and the rest of China went into lockdown.

In one video, recorded in February 2020, Zhang said: “I can’t find anything to say except that the city is paralysed because everything is under cover. That’s what this country is facing now … They imprison us in the name of pandemic prevention and restrict our freedom. We must not talk to strangers, it’s dangerous. So without the truth, everything is meaningless. If we cannot get to the truth, if we cannot break the monopoly of the truth, the world means nothing to us.”

In another video, she showed a hospital that was overflowing with patients on trolleys in the hallway.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2546·
      8 months ago

      Braver than most western journalists, who regurgitate the corporatocracies narrative and manufacture consent on their behalf.

      Hopefully she’s given a good job and granted asylum somewhere in the west ASAP, so she can go on with her life.

      EDIT: Gotcha! What kind of smooth brain do you have to be to consider my above statements logically inconsistent, ironic, or hypocritical?

      None of the wests failings prevent it from currently enabling a freer and objectively better quality of life for the vast majority. She does not face persecution in the west. In China she has, and will continue to; especially under the social credit system.

      • mako@lemmy.today
        English
        173·
        8 months ago

        Braver than most western journalists, who regurgitate the corporatocracies narrative and manufacture consent on their behalf.

        True

        Hopefully she’s given a good job and granted asylum somewhere in the west ASAP, so she can go on with her life.

        What?

        • ipkpjersi@lemmy.mlEnglish
          52·
          8 months ago

          I think the idea is that she could be arbitrarily detained in China whereas that sort of thing is typically seen as less likely in the west.

        • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
          23·
          8 months ago

          Gotcha! What kind of smooth brain do you have to be to consider my above statements logically inconsistent, ironic, or hypocritical?

          None of the wests failings prevent it from currently enabling a freer and objectively better quality of life for the vast majority. She does not face persecution in the west. In China she has, and will continue to; especially under the social credit system.