真理的防守者

Chinese journalist 程益中 (Cheng Yizhong) was awarded the 2005 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize last week.



Cheng, editor of 南方都市报 (Southern Metropolis Daily), broke new ground in Chinese journalism for coverage of SARS and breaking the disquieting story of the murder of 27-year-old Sun Zhigang, in Guangzhou police custody. It was no surprise, then, that he was spidered* by the CCP and thrown into the dungeons himself.

The Prize comes nearly a year after being released from prison and barred from reporting in China. “I continue to be grateful for the caring I received from outside China,” Cheng told Radio Free Asia.

China’s Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the award. (But of course.)

Cheng has been hailed as a beacon of “Chinese journalism at its best; he speaks out for the weak and checks the strong. His courageous outspokenness has contributed to raising public awareness in China.”

Cheng gave an inspiring acceptance speech. Thanks to EastSouthWestNorth for an excellent translation, for the monolingual anglophiles among us.

Here, an excerpt that I just could not not include in this post:

美丽世界！是的，我们需要一个美丽世界。

猪圈不是美丽世界，哪怕是丰衣足食的猪圈。人不应生活在对人权、人道、人性和人味都充满敌意的境遇之中。人必须恢复对人类的认同。

用常识为武器，我们必将摧毁恐怖和谎言编织的梦魇。不要和常识作对。不要和良心作对。警惕卑鄙无耻的政客用真理的名义打击真相，以政治正确之名泻一己之愤谋一己之利。我们要分享各自的人生经验，分享人类文明的成果。

对于我们来说，当务之急是扩大公众知情权、提高政治能见度。这是中国新闻从业人员义不容辞的责任，也是“无权势者的力量”。作为新闻从业人员，你有不说话的权力，但没有讲假话的权力。讲真话不是新闻从业人员的最高准则，而是底线。然而极其可悲，现在这是一条高压线。
...
请我们从现在起就要对这样的局面感到可耻！
借此机会，我呼吁：让真话回到我们的生活，就像让大地回到我们的脚下！

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*The term is usually used in this context, but I’ve taken the liberty of extending its application here. So there.


Technorati: press freedom, civil rights, China politics, China journalism