FOREIGN Journalists in China reported worsened working conditions in 2018, due partly to government interference with reporting in the restive Xinjiang Region, a survey showed on Tuesday.

55 per cent of respondents in a survey conducted by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China said reporting conditions deteriorated in 2018, compared with 40 per cent in the 2017 survey.

As the world started learning about China’s mass internment of Muslim ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang region, journalists who travelled there were followed, harassed, often forced to delete photos and recordings.

Additionally, 37 per cent of correspondents said Chinese staff for foreign media, who usually work as interpreters, were harassed, pressured or intimidated.

Six correspondents reported difficulties renewing their visas related to their coverage.

In 2018, BuzzFeed News bureau chief Megha Rajagopalan and Australian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Matthew Carney had to leave China after being unable to renew their visas. Both had reported from Xinjiang. (Dpa/NAN)

– Jan. 29, 2019 @ 12:05 GMT |