China Jails Reporter Who Covered Wuhan Outbreak. Her Crime? Journalism.

A Chinese court has sentenced a citizen journalist to four years in prison after she reported independently on the COVID-19 crisis from its first epicenter, illustrating Beijing’s intent to maintain a tight grip on the narrative of the pandemic as it seeks to defend its early response to the emergence of the virus.

A former lawyer, Zhang Zhan had been detained for seven months before she was sentenced on Monday by the Shanghai Pudong People’s Court, according to her lawyers. She was accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a...