0utspoken media advocate quits university post amid pressure
One of the most outspoken voices in the mainland's media has resigned from his post at a university, citing mounting pressure on him and the annual journalism forum he hosted.
The resignation of Zhan Jiang, dean of the Journalism and Communication School at the China Youth University for Political Science, comes amid concerns about a worsening environment for the mainland media in a politically sensitive year. Professor Zhan submitted a letter to the university's leadership and 100 other teachers asking for approval of his resignation.
The letter began to circulate on the internet yesterday.
In the letter he asked for the return of his passport, which he claimed had been collected by the university's party secretary. Professor Zhan said the official had taken measures to prevent him organising an annual forum on monitoring the government through public opinion.
'I also regret that the forum was criticised by senior management during the past two years,' he said in the letter.
Professor Zhan is one of the mainland's most liberal-minded media professors and is famous for his commentaries on social events.
He has consistently supported investigative reporting, becoming something of an icon among many aspiring journalists on the mainland. The forum has become a place where reporters and media experts can discuss important stories - with a particular focus on supervising government, social and judicial injustice.
Professor Zhan, who has resigned from his position but is still a teacher at the university, told the Post yesterday that the party head of the university had made his position untenable.
'I don't want to work in this position. Probably later on I will leave this school because the head is a bad man. He used various measures to give me a hard time during the past two years, ever since he was appointed as a former official from the Communist Youth League,' he said.
'I went to Harvard University for an academic exchange in April for a month and was told to hand in my passport afterwards. I was investigated by the deputy chairman for secretly travelling to the US and delaying teaching.'
