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From Boxun:

创刊两年多，中国大陆深受欢迎和敢于直言的报纸《新京报》的总编杨斌和两名副总编辑（孙雪东、李多钰)，遭到中共政权整肃，28日突然被同时免职。

共同社最新消息称，在北京新京报总突遭撤职后，12月29日有2000多名记者编辑和其它员工开始罢工，以此来表达不满和抗议。据新京报工作人员称，29日已有3/4的编辑和记者罢工，不满北京当局打压该报的采编方针。据悉，光明日报两名高层29日晚与新京报工作人员会面，警告不复工者将被开除。

《新京报》前不久才获2005年《新周刊》新锐榜传媒之年度报纸，成立2年来，《新京报》已经成长为中国报业最有影响力、最有价值的品牌之一。

当局还没有说明免除杨斌职务的原因，但经常为新闻工作者打官司的北京律师浦志强表示，当局指摘《新京报》“多次犯错误”。

最早的消息称，《新京报》已经由直属中宣部、持保守倾向的《光明日报》全面接管。

《新京报》是《南方都市报》与《光明日报》于2003年在北京合办的一份跨地域报纸。去年遭整肃的《南方都市报》三名高层中，前主编程益中当时已调任《新京报》第一任总编辑。杨斌去年接任《新京报》总编辑的职务。程益中由于“经济问题”被免职并且受到为时5个月的羁押。

From Boxun:

中国民间的反对声音：安替网站刊登《新京报》三位编辑的照片

BBC中文网消息:在北京《新京报》职员罢工压力下，当局同意原本撤换的两名副总编保留职位，但维持总编杨斌的撤职决定。

据悉总编杨斌已经被中共中央高层直接点名，因此无望留任。有消息说杨斌离职后将担任深圳新浪网站总编。

但此前被撤换职务的两位副总编孙雪冬、李多钰则获得留任。

《新京报》内部职员对BBC中文网介绍说，报社很多员工对这次打压极度不满。罢工其实是以消极怠工形式出现。职员们在29日不去公共室，而是去卡拉OK唱歌发泄愤懑。

提出辞职

不过，员工们得知上层作出部分让步后，已开始上班。但部分记者编辑已经心寒并提出辞职。

现在的《新京报》大幅引用新华社消息，很少有往日常见的本地热门消息。

此次《新京报》事件引发广泛的国际关注，在中国国内互连网上也引起强烈反响。

《新京报》在31日召开员工会议。该报社员工对BBC中文网表示说，员工们在会议上被告知不得向境外媒体谈论任何有关《新京报》情况。

广泛认为，《新京报》这次人事更动，与该报报道今年六月河北定州当局镇压农民大规模抗议并打死六人的新闻有关。

此外，在松花江污染导致哈尔滨停水事件上，《新京报》也最早站出来批评当局掩盖真相。

Also from Boxun:

《新京报》是一份颇受读者欢迎的报纸

据路透社和法新社报道，北京《新京报》总编辑和两名副总编被解职之后，该报约100名记者和编辑举行罢工表示抗议。《新京报》总编杨斌、副总编辑孙雪东、李多钰日前突然被同时免职。

罢工人数占《新京报》员工总人数三分之一，新闻人员罢工为该报历史上从来未有。

新京报总编，副总编突然遭到撤职的消息传出后，引发记者，编辑和读者的愤怒反应。

许多记者编辑和其它员工开始罢工，以此来表达不满和抗议。据称，接管该报的高层官员警告说，坚持罢工的人将被开除。

周五出版的《新京报》版面不到平日的一半。

除此之外，有人在搏客网站上呼吁读者立刻抵制该报，退出订户。一名搏客评论说："我们不是猪，不能任人宰割，不能随意把我们的钱骗走。"

"多次犯错误"

当局还没有说明免除杨斌职务的原因，但新闻界知名律师浦志强说，当局指摘《新京报》"多次犯错误"。

中国媒传界普遍认为，《新京报》尽管创刊只有两年，已经成为中国最有公信力的报纸之一。

它在各项重大事件的报道中，独树一帜，直言不讳，让当局极为恼火。

在今年六月，河北定州爆发农民大规模抗议，受到当局镇压，有六人被打死。《新京报》是最早透露这一事件的报纸。

松花江污染导致哈尔滨大停水时间发生后，《新京报》也最早站出来批评当局掩盖真相。

From Reporters Without Borders:

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the methods being used by the Chinese Communist Party’s publicity department (the former propaganda department) to carry out a purge at the popular, liberal daily Xin Jing Bao (Beijing News), where it seized direct control six days ago.

Calm appears to have returned to the newspaper as most of the journalists are on vacation, but surveillance has been stepped up, with the authorities monitoring communications and censoring the Internet to prevent any expression of discontent.

“The police methods used by the authorities to crush the work of the Xin Jing Bao staff is outrageous and leaves no further room for illusions about the policies of President Hu Jintao’s administration towards the press,” Reporters Without Borders said. “There is now an urgent need for the international community to make defence of press freedom a priority in its dialogue with China.”

Even if the protest movement - all-out strike and petitions - by Xin Jing Bao’s journalists seems to have run out of steam, they are still under pressure from the authorities. Phone calls are being monitored, switchboard operators are screening calls to the editorial staff, and the blogs of several of its journalists have been rendered inaccessible.

The Chinese media has not mentioned the protests of 29 and 30 December although they were front-page news abroad. And a search for “strike” with the search engine on the newspaper’s website (www.thebeijingnews.com) yields no results related to China.

Several sources have confirmed the direct involvement of Communist Party’s publicity department in the purge. After it described the newspaper as “recidivist,” the department’s chief, Liu Yunshan, said at a 6 December meeting that the Xin Jing Bao problem needed to be solved in a “fundamental manner.”

The precise reasons for the dismissal of the editor-in-chief Yang Bin and his deputies Li Duoyu and Sun Xuedong(photo) are still unknown. Several journalists have said those responsible for censorship were irked by Xin Jing Bao’s reports about demonstrations in June by villagers who lost their land in Hebei province and about the pollution of the River Songhuan in November.

The management of the governmental daily Guangming Ribao, which holds 51 per cent of Xin Jing Bao’s shares, is now in charge of appointing new editors. The 30 December issue, which had a print run of 100,000, meanwhile went out without any editors named in the masthead.

Reporters Without Borders has managed to piece together the events at Xin Jing Bao from accounts provided by its journalists. One if its reporters had this to say:

“The announcement of Sun Xuedong’s dismissal caused a great deal of turmoil among the staff. Seven of my colleagues spontaneously downed tools in protest and left the office. Others meanwhile thought it was the end of the newspaper and tried to rescue copies. Sun asked all the journalists to go back to work at once. One of the strikers replied: ‘It’s out of the question. That would be like being a traitor.’

“We were already talking of a ‘media revolution’ when Sun fainted as a result of the immense pressure. He was put on an artificial respirator. In the meantime, word of the dismissals reached the foreign news agencies.

“All day, Mr. Chao, a very conservative envoy from Guangming Ribao, tried to restore order among us in the name of the Chinese Communist Party. Without success.”

Other accounts talk of journalists in tears, unable to go back to work. At least 100 employees staged an all-out strike, which is extremely rare in the Chinese media.

Despite the censorship, there have been rumblings of discontent in blogs and chat rooms frequented by Xin Jing Bao journalists. “When a newspaper’s editor is an imbecile, his staff will also be stupid,” said one journalist using ‘House of the North’ as his pseudonym. “There will be self-censorship at all levels. Our newspaper will have no more decent articles.”

A reporter with the arts and culture section said most of the staff were very sad because their editors were “sincere, honest and rigorous.” Another Internet user wrote that “a liberal newspaper has no chance in China,” recalling that Xin Jing Bao used to call itself “The newspaper that talks about everything.”

Society section editor Chen Feng, who is famous for writing about the death of a Guangzhou student while being tortured, said on the Internet that, “nothing will be the same as before.”

The dismissed editors have also expressed their attachment to the newspaper. “The entire staff has always been very dedicated to this newspaper, without any personal ambition,” one of the dismissed deputy editors, Li Duoyu, wrote. “Once the storm has passed, will calm return? Will the journalists again dare to develop their ideas as freely and sincerely as in the past?”