Chinese 'Citizen Journalist' to be Released After 3 Years in Prison for 'COVID Reporting'

Relatives of a Chinese man who disappeared three years ago after posting videos of hospitals and piles of corpses during the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan say he is set to be released soon. Fang Bin and others like him, referred to as 'citizen journalists,' shared details of the pandemic on the internet and social media in early 2020. The release of this information and the revelation of the Chinese government's inability to control the outbreak embarrassed Chinese officials. While the ruling Communist Party has always sought to control the narrative, Fang's case is also seen as part of a systematic crackdown on criticism of China's mismanagement of the COVID pandemic and the spread of the coronavirus. Two sources familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fears of government retaliation, told the Associated Press that Fang Bin is expected to be released on Sunday. One of them stated that Fang was sentenced to three years in prison for 'causing trouble and creating problems,' a vague charge commonly used against political dissidents in China. In early 2020, as the initial outbreak of COVID overtook the city of Wuhan, the Chinese government attempted to curb the spread of the disease with a 76-day lockdown of the city. During that time, when the streets of Wuhan saw nothing but ambulances and security personnel for months, a small number of 'citizen journalists' tried to counter the tightly controlled information monopoly of the Communist Party by using smartphones and social media accounts to share their own and others' narratives. Although Fang and another citizen journalist named Chen Qiushi disappeared in February of that year, this small act by these citizen journalists was unprecedented compared to the level of 'public information' in previous instances. This news is based on a report by the Associated Press.