Chinese journalists mount rare protest over an alleged act of government censorship

BEIJING Chinese journalists reacted furiously Friday to what they said was heavy-handed official censorship of a New Years message from a popular Guangdong newspaper, setting up a crucial early challenge for new leader Xi Jinping.

The dispute began when the propaganda chief in the southern province, Tuo Zhen, apparently went behind the backs of the editors of the reform-minded paper Southern Weekly and directed that changes be made to the unsigned front-page piece. Tuo deleted some parts and inserted new passages in some places, adding factual errors after the papers top editors had signed off on the Jan. 2 article and gone home, several editors and reporters said later on their Twitter-like microblogs, called weibo.

Censorship of Chinas print media is a long-standing and ubiquitous practice, but having a government official actually rewrite an article before publication, and without consulting the editors, was considered an unusual intrusion even by Chinese standards.

The original message was titled Chinas dream, the dream of constitutionalism and it expressed the hope that China would become a country ruled by law and the constitution, according to the journalists. Only if constitutionalism is realized, and power effectively checked, can citizens voice their criticisms of power loudly and confidently, it said.

The version that appeared in the paper, however, was a sycophantic piece titled We are now closer to our dream than ever, which praised the work of the ruling Communist Party and omitted references to constitutionalism, democracy and equality.

Beijings censors tried to contain the resulting indignation by ordering all the weibo postings about the controversy deleted. According to the China Digital Times Web site, which tracks Chinese censorship issues, the Central Propaganda Department issued an urgent notice on Jan. 3 saying, Upon receipt of this message, controlling departments in all locales must immediately inform reporters and editors that they may not discuss the Southern Weekly New Years greeting on any public platforms.

The complaining journalists suddenly found their weibo posts deleted, and some had their accounts shut down.

But the controversy only intensified Friday with a rare open letter from a prominent group of former journalists affiliated with Southern Weekly calling Tuos actions dictatorial and also ignorant and excessive, according to a translation provided by the Hong Kong-based China Media Project, which studies mainland media issues. By late Friday, more than 50 former journalists had endorsed the letter.

The journalists letter directly criticized Tuo, a member of the Guangdong Communist Party Standing Committee with oversight of propaganda, saying, In this era in which hope is necessary, he is obliterating hope; in this era in which equality is yearned for, his actions are haughty and condescending; in this era of growing open-mindedness, his actions are foolish and careless.

The journalists added, If media lose all credibility and influence, then we ask, how is the ruling Party to speak? They also said that since Xis election, the general attitude at home and overseas ... has been one of optimism. But they asked whether the central government supported Tuos actions and demanded that he be deemed unsuitable for his position.

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Chinese journalists mount rare protest over an alleged act of government censorship