Tunneling Through Stone “Chinese media are evolving. They are in the process, as we say in Chinese, of ‘tunneling through stone drip by drip.’?” Li Datong has been a critic of media controls in China since January 2006, when he was removed from his position as chief editor of Freezing Point, a supplement to the…
Waiting For a Verdict In a July 11, 2005, letter to the chief judge of the Fuyang City Intermediate People’s Court, attorney Pu Zhiqiang rejected a proposed settlement in the civil libel case against Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao, authors of Will the Boat Sink the Water? The Life of China’s Peasants. The attorney urged…
The Spy Trap Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong-based correspondent for Singapore’s Straits Times, was arrested in Guangzhou in April 2005 while trying to obtain transcripts of interviews with the late Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted in 1989 for expressing sympathy with Tiananmen demonstrators. Ching was later sentenced to five years in prison for…
Search Engines Sift and Censor Type something as benign-sounding as “open letter” into a Chinese Internet search engine, and it’s likely you won’t get a complete list of the Web’s offerings on that topic. For China’s Internet police, a critical first step in controlling the flow of online information is to filter search results. Search…
The Media Managers An array of committees and agencies collaborate to promote the official line. For party officials, ‘propaganda’ is no dirty word. Among party officials responsible for media content, the word xuanchuan, or “propaganda,” does not have a negative connotation. In recognition of the discomfort it evokes among foreigners, however, the department overseeing China’s…
Politics and the Press: A Timeline The flow from censors was daily, unrelenting, and covered every conceivable topic, from the serious to the banal. December 4, 1982 China adopts constitution. Article 35 states: “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, and of…
Politics and the Press: A Timeline December 4, 1982 China adopts new constitution. Article 35 states: “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, and of demonstration.”
Guidelines for Reporters on the Ground Although authorities have tried to be more media-friendly for the Olympics, they are still determined to control information. Visiting journalists, especially those new to China’s uncertain media environment, should hire a savvy and trustworthy assistant.