Chinese Journalist Receives Additional Prison Sentence Over COVID Reporting

Zhang Zhan, a citizen-journalist from China who attracted worldwide notice for her reporting from Wuhan at the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, has been sentenced to another four years in prison, as reported by Reporters without Borders (RSF).

Arrested for Reporting from Wuhan

In early 2020, she traveled to Wuhan to videotape the crowded hospitals, lockdowns, and images showing what ran counter to the official narratives. Her reporting led to her arrest in May 2020. In December, she was sentenced to four years for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” This covert charge mask the many terms that the Chinese government uses to eradicate dissent.

Zhang began a hunger strike shortly after her arrest, and reports say she was force fed by officials and locked to a bed with a feeding tube. Zhang Zhan was released from prison in May of 2024, and served her sentence, and was detained again three months after.

New Charges Elicit Global Outrage

According to RSF, Zhang’s most recent prison sentence was tied to her posting on and commenting online on overseas sites that criticized China’s human rights record. Authorities did not elaborate on what specifically she was charged with. According to her attorney, the charges were once again “picking quarrels,” which were explicitly related to Zhang’s online expression.

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) condemned the charges and said, “This trial is a sham, and a blatant act of persecution.” Amnesty International also released a statement, and urged Chinese authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release Zhang,” calling the charges are “completely unfounded,” and the trial was “unfair.”

China’s Record on Press Freedom

China continues to be the number 1 country in the world with the most jail journalists, with at least 124 journalists imprisoned. The country ranked 178 th out of 180 rank journalists, only above North Korea and Eritrea in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index.

China’s top legislature passed a bill, just a week before Zhang Zhan was arrested to encourage the public to report public health emergencies, outside of the normal bureaucratic avenues. The promotion of transparency, shows the contradiction for follow-up to Zhang Zhan’s arrest, since it confuses the public’s appetite for independent reporting, and the government’s adherence to transparency.