BEIJING — After a decade as a reporter and producer for China Central Television, Wang Qinglei grew tired of the increasingly ‘‘stifling environment’’ for this country’s journalists, and took to social media to say so.
Fired as a result, Wang then penned an extraordinary farewell letter. He lamented that journalists at the state broadcaster had been slowly turned from watchdogs into ‘‘manipulated clowns.’’ While CCTV has rapidly expanded, opening 70 bureaus around the globe, its domestic channel had gone from being respected to being mocked, Wang said.
‘‘Having a brand new building and new equipment, having nationwide and worldwide correspondent posts, does not mean we have everything,’’ he wrote. ‘‘What we have slowly lost is credibility and influence.’’
In the past decade, China’s Communist government has gradually tightened the screws on the media. Now, under President Xi Jinping, the campaign to control journalists has intensified sharply. While there has been a lot of focus in US media on the difficulties of foreign correspondents in getting their visas renewed, local journalists risk getting fired and even jailed for their work.
Journalists complain that more of their stories are being censored than in the past, while new restrictions have been imposed in recent months requiring them to seek permission before meeting foreign reporters and business people.
In the final quarter of 2013, reporters across China were forced to attend ideological training meant to impart the ‘‘Marxist view’’ of journalism and to pass a multiple-choice examination on their knowledge of the Communist Party’s myriad slogans.
At the same time, the main Chinese journalism schools have been told that a propaganda official will be placed in a leading management role at the institutions, professors said, curtailing whatever academic freedom they now enjoy under university and Education Ministry control.
‘‘After so many years of reform and opening up, they still use methods from the 18th century; it is ridiculous,’’ complained one professor, who requested anonymity to avoid problems with the authorities.
The government, experts say, is deeply alarmed about the growing impact of social media and the Internet, and the way that critical stories, whether written by local reporters or foreign journalists, can spread.
At the same time, a rising tide of protests at home, and the experience of the Arab Spring abroad, have the government determined to do whatever it takes to ensure its own survival.
The latest crackdown may also reflect Xi’s authoritarian style, which has become more evident as he has consolidated power since taking control of the party more than a year ago, analysts say.
He is tightening control of the media even as he is undertaking a series of changes meant to stimulate the economy, clean up the party, and address some areas of popular discontent.
‘‘We must adhere to the Marxist view of journalism,’’ he said in a major speech on ideology in August. ‘‘We must communicate positive energy. We have to make sure the front of the Internet is firmly controlled by people who are loyal to Marxism, loyal to the party, and loyal to the people.’’
China consistently scores among the most repressive nations in global press freedom reports, less Draconian than Iran and North Korea but more so than Cuba and Vietnam.
Yet some decent investigative journalism is practiced here, even if only a fraction of such articles sees the light of day. Chinese journalists frequently report on social injustice, corruption involving local officials, and environmental degradation, and have helped uncover health crises from SARS to AIDS.