Category Archives: Censorship

BEIJING (AP) -- Free-speech protesters in masks squared off against flag-waving communist loyalists in a southern Chinese city Tuesday as a dispute over censorship at a newspaper spilled into the broader population, with authorities shutting microblog accounts of supporters of the paper.

What started out as a conflict between journalists at the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekly and a top censor over a New Year's editorial has rapidly become a focal point driving public calls for the authoritarian Communist Party government to loosen its grip on information.

The dispute centers on how the editorial, originally calling for political reform, was transformed into a tribute praising the Communist Party. Scholars have signed open letters calling for the censor's dismissal, celebrities and other supporters of the journalists are speaking out for the paper on microblogs drawing a crackdown by authorities and hundreds of people gathered for a second day outside the publication's office bearing flowers and signs in support.

The paper's editorial committee was in negotiations with its top management, which is part of the provincial propaganda office, according to a Southern Weekly editor. The editor spoke on condition of anonymity because of an internal directive not to talk to the foreign media.

Propaganda officials want the newspaper to publish as per normal on Thursday but editors are negotiating over whether to do so, and the terms under which they would be willing, for example, if they could include a letter to readers explaining the incident, the editor said.

The committee is also pushing a larger appeal to abolish censorship of the newspaper's content prior to publication, the editor said. The suggestion is that Communist Party leaders could provide direction but not interfere with reporting and editing, and should refrain from taking issue with content until after publication, the editor said.

Free-speech protesters started gathering outside Southern Weekly's offices again Tuesday morning, holding signs calling for media freedom and other democratic reforms but were soon confronted by party loyalists waving Chinese flags.

Both sides berated each other at times resorting to hurling abuse and calling each other "traitors and running dogs," and minor scuffling ensued that was broken up by police.

"Southern Weekly is the only mainland newspaper that, relatively speaking, is more able to report the truth," said one of the protesters, Cheng Qiubo, a democracy activist. "We are very angry that it has been censored ... so we hope that this country can have media freedom, to abolish the news censorship system."

The issue also galvanized a wide variety of people on China's popular Twitter-like microblogs, with many journalists, scholars, entrepreneurs and celebrities posting messages of support for the newspaper's stance.

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China censorship prompts rally and online protest

Censorship of Mark Twain #39;s Work

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Censorship of Mark Twain's Work - Video

ALIVE CHINA CENSORSHIP

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ALIVE CHINA CENSORSHIP - Video

TOK IA--Bias and Censorship
TOK IA

By: Bob Johnson

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More than 100 journalists at one of China's most respected newspapers have gone on strike in a rare protest against censorship.

The staff at Southern Weekend, based in the southern city of Guangzhou, walked out after a New Year editorial article written by them was altered on the orders of the Communist Party's local propaganda boss.

The workers accuse Tuo Zhen, Guangdong's provincial propaganda chief, of having their words changed into a message of praise for China's Communist Party.

The original article, which was an end-of-year editorial, was titled "China's Dream: the dream of constitutionalism". According to those who saw the original piece, it had argued that "only by realising rule by constitution, effectively checking power, can citizens vocally criticise authority".

However, the article which appeared in the paper was markedly different. There was no mention of political reform within it and it claimed that the people of China are "closer than ever to their dream of renaissance".

It is understood the staff decided to strike after a disagreement over who controls the newspaper's micro-blogging account. A statement had been issued on the account denying that the editorial had been altered.

Outside the newspaper's offices, protesters held hand-written signs that said "freedom of expression is not a crime" and "Chinese people want freedom".

The journalists' stand has attracted huge support on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, despite attempts by the authorities to block any mention of the story. Sky News staff in Beijing monitoring the Weibo website watched posts which mentioned the story being deleted by the censors as quickly as they appeared.

Among the posts seen by Sky News were some by prominent Chinese journalists in support of their striking colleagues.

Columnist Li Qing compared China's undemocratic rise with the introduction of democracy in neighbouring Burma.

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China Journalists On Strike Over Censorship

Hundreds of people demonstrated in support of media freedom in China on Monday outside the offices of a newspaper at the centre of a censorship row, in a rare public display of anger on the issue.

The protesters were outside the Southern Weekly's office in Guangzhou, with one banner reading: "We want press freedom, constitutionalism and democracy".

The demonstration in the southern city came after censors on Thursday blocked a New Year article in the popular liberal newspaper which called for the realisation of a "dream of constitutionalism in China" to protect rights.

Some of the journalists working at the newspaper said they intended to strike over the row in Internet postings on Sunday evening.

All Chinese media organisations are subject to instructions from government propaganda departments, which often suppress news seen as "negative" by the ruling Communist Party, although some publications take a more critical stance.

On Friday a liberal Chinese journal's website, Annals of the Yellow Emperor, was shut down after it published an appeal for leaders to guarantee constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and assembly.

The crackdown on freedom of expression comes despite pledges of change from the new leadership, headed by president-in-waiting Xi Jinping, which has promised a more open style of governance since the Communist Party congress in November.

Police allowed the demonstration, which was made up of mainly young people, who were carrying posters and scattering chrysanthemums, a flower used at funerals in China which has become the protesters' symbol for the loss of press freedom.

The censorship at the Southern Weekly sparked online uproar from netizens, including the newspaper's staff.

Some Internet reports said strike action was agreed by staff after senior editors took control of the newspaper's posts on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, from day-to-day journalists.

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Protesters gather at China newspaper in censorship row

BEIJING A dispute over censorship at a Chinese newspaper known for edgy reporting evolved Monday into a political challenge for China's new leadership as prominent scholars demanded a censor's dismissal and hundreds of protesters called for democratic reforms.

The scholars and protesters were acting in support of the newspaper in its confrontation with a top censor after the publication was forced to change a New Year's editorial calling for political reform into a tribute praising the ruling Communist Party. Rumors circulated that at least one of the newspaper's news departments was going on strike, but they could not be immediately confirmed.

CBS News' Shuai Zhang says the situation escalated over the weekend, as the newspaper's management apparently seized control of the paper's official account on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, which has almost 4 million followers in the vast country.

A statement was issued on the account claiming the controversial front-page editorial had been written by staff, and was not a forced alteration.

Editorial staff at the paper, called Southern Weekly, then used their own Weibo accounts to refute the fake message, and decided to stage a strike over the government's apparent hijacking of the account. The social media editor of the paper said on Wiebo that he had lost control of the newspaper's official account and that it was now being updated by the paper's management.

Shuai adds that if staff members do go on strike, it would be the first time in more than two decades that the editorial staff of a major newspaper had openly protested government censorship.

Protesters gathered outside the offices of the newspaper in the southern city of Guangzhou to lay flowers at the gate, hold signs and shout slogans calling for freedom of speech, political reform, constitutional governance and democracy.

"I feel that the ordinary people must awaken," said one of the protesters, Yuan Fengchu, who was reached by phone. "The people are starting to realize that their rights have been taken away by the Communist Party and they are feeling that they are being constantly oppressed."

The protest came as 18 Chinese academics signed an open letter calling for the dismissal of Tuo Zhen, a provincial propaganda minister blamed for the censorship.

The protesting scholars included legal professors, liberal economists, historians and writers.

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China newspaper in rare stand against censorship

Journalists and editors at an influential and often outspoken newspaper in China have gone on strike in protest of government censorship. The dispute involves a local propaganda official who allegedly called for changes to the publication's annual New Years editorial to its readers. The standoff at the Southern Weekly newspaper is growing from an internal dispute into a national debate about government oversight of the media.

The influential newspaper has long been known for its outspokenness and independent-minded efforts to cover the news in a country where information is a tightly controlled commodity.

Employees say that when they returned from an annual New Years holiday last Thursday they discovered that a section of the paper that was to discuss the touchy topic of constitutional reform had been dramatically changed. That prompted an uproar.

The uproar came first online - on blogs and other Twitter-like Weibo social media sites - with staffers accusing the propaganda chief where the paper is based, in Guangdong province, of making the changes and then, on Monday, in the form of protests outside the companys offices.

Photos of the protesters that managed to briefly get posted online before they were taken down showed some holding up signs and shouting slogans calling for freedom of speech, democracy and political reform.

Li Datong, a former prominent Chinese editor who was fired from a state media organization for his views, says the apparent intervention by the propaganda department appears to be a new tactic for state censors.

"The propaganda department has already changed from the previous mode of censorship after publication to what we see now as a move towards censorship before publication," said Li. "It does not matter if it was Tuo Zhen, himself, but it was the propaganda department that did this. They have transformed what was control after publication to control before publication. This is a very nasty beginning."

Dozens of academics and editors have already begun openly calling, on line, for the resignation of the propaganda chief. Students from Chinas Nanjing University and others have posted pictures of themselves online as well holding cards that cheered the newspaper on urging it to Jia You in Chinese, which means "Go."

Some are already beginning to believe the dispute could become a watershed event that promotes much deeper reforms.

Since Xi Jinping took over as head of the Communist Party in November, journalists have been taking bolder steps in testing the limits of the countrys new team of leaders both in reporting and on editorial pages.

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Censorship Fight at Newspaper in China Grows

A row over censorship at a Chinese newspaper has turned into a political challenge for the country's new leadership after a series of protests.

The action was in support of the Southern Weekly in its confrontation with a top censor after it was forced to change a New Year's editorial calling for political reform into a tribute praising the ruling Communist Party.

Protesters, including schoolchildren and white-collar workers, gathered outside the offices of the newspaper in the southern city of Guangzhou to lay flowers at the gate, hold signs and shout slogans calling for freedom of speech, political reform, constitutional governance and democracy.

"I feel that the ordinary people must awaken," said one of the protesters, Yuan Fengchu. "The people are starting to realise that their rights have been taken away by the Communist Party and they are feeling that they are being constantly oppressed."

Political expression in the public sphere is often viewed as risky in China, where the government frequently harasses and even jails dissidents for pro-democracy calls.

Another protester, Guangzhou writer and activist Wu Wei, who goes by the pen name Ye Du, said the protest marked a rare instance in which people were making overt calls for political freedom since large-scale pro-democracy demonstrations were crushed in a military crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

"In other cities, we've seen people march, but most of the time they are protesting environmental pollution or people's livelihood issues," he said. "Here they are asking for political rights, the right to protest. The Southern Weekly incident has provided an opportunity for citizens to voice their desires."

The protest came as 18 Chinese academics signed an open letter calling for the dismissal of Tuo Zhen, a provincial propaganda minister blamed for the censorship. The scholars included legal professors, liberal economists, historians and writers.

Peking University law professor He Weifang, who was among them, said the newspaper's good work needed to be defended from censorship. "Southern Weekly is known as a newspaper that exposes the truth, but after Tuo Zhen arrived in Guangdong, he constantly pressured the paper. We need to let him know that he can't do this," he said. "This incident is a test to see if the new leadership is determined to push political reform."

Six weeks ago, China installed a new generation of Communist Party leaders for the next five years, with current Vice President Xi Jinping at the helm. Some of his announcements for a trimmed-down style of leadership, with reduced waste and fewer unnecessary meetings, have raised hopes in some quarters that he might favour deeper reforms in the political system to mollify a public long frustrated by local corruption.

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Chinese paper in censorship dispute

Today, scores of Chinese protested outside China's Southern Weekly newspaper, backing reporters who went on strike against what they say is government censorship of its coverage.

Scores of supporters of one of China's most liberal newspapers demonstrated outside its headquarters on Monday in a rare protest against censorship, backing an unusual strike by journalists against interference by the provincial propaganda chief.

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The protest in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, comes amid an escalating standoff between the government and the people over press freedom. It is also an early test of Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping's commitment to reform.

The outcry began late last week after reporters at the influential Southern Weekly newspaper accused censors of replacing an original New Year's letter to readers that called for a constitutional government with another piece lauding the party's achievements.

Police allowed the demonstration outside the headquarters of the Southern Group, illustrating that the Guangdong government, led by newly appointed and rising political star Hu Chunhua, wants to tread carefully to contain rising public anger over censorship.

The protesters, most of them young, laid down small hand-written signs that said "freedom of expression is not a crime" and "Chinese people want freedom". Many clutched yellow chrysanthemums, symbolising mourning the death of press freedom.

"The Nanfang (Southern) Media Group is relatively willing to speak the truth in China so we need to stand up for its courage and support it now," Ao Jiayang, a young NGO worker with bright orange dyed hair, told Reuters.

"We hope that through this we can fight for media freedom in China," Mr. Ao said. "Today's turnout reflects that more and more people in China have a civic consciousness."

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Chinese stage protests, strikes against media censorship