In Southern Weekly versus censors, cautious optimism
There is cautious optimism among China media watchers this morning over the news that a deal has been struck between censors and protesting journalists at China’s Southern Weekly news magazine, which is also known as Southern Weekend. The journalists will not face reprisals for their protest, and propaganda authorities will not repeat the editing stunt…
In China, rebellion grows over Southern Weekly
In the past few days, Chinese journalists and their supporters have launched startlingly direct opposition to Communist Party rule, protesting a heavy-handed move by Guangdong’s provincial propaganda department to unilaterally replace a Southern Weekly editorial on constitutionalism with pro-Party bromides. Defying censors’ directives, media organizations around the country continue to post messages of support of…
Southern Weekly journalists air anger with Chinese censors
Staffers at the Guangdong-based Southern Weekly magazine have publicly expressed their outrage at the heavy handed intervention of propaganda officials who unilaterally rewrote a New Year’s editorial calling for improved constitutional rule in China. A piece extolling the virtues of the Communist Party ran in its place. Sixty staffers posted an open letter to the provincial government…
China’s name registration will only aid cybercriminals
China’s mounting crackdown on online news dissemination took an extra step today, when the country’s Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, its de facto legislative body, announced new requirements on Internet service providers and mobile phone companies to identify their users. The new rules would potentially allow ISPs and the authorities to more closely…
Taiwanese media sale could threaten press freedom
A media buyout in Taiwan which would put independent news outlets critical of China into the hands of a pro-Beijing media tycoon is cause for concern for the island’s press. Jimmy Lai, the outspoken mogul behind Hong Kong-based Next Media and the Apple Daily tabloid, is selling his Taiwan holdings to a group of businessmen…
Nearly 20,000 call to free Kyrgyz, Tibetan journalists
“I remain hopeful that I will one day see the sun once more–not through the barred window of my prison cell but as a free man.” -Azimjon Askarov Today, on International Human Rights Day, CPJ and close to 20,000 supporters are calling on the governments of China and Kyrgyzstan to release two journalists imprisoned for…
Confusion grows around missing Tibetan monk filmmaker
Not unusually, an already confusing situation in Tibet just got worse. Twenty-seven Tibetans have self-immolated in protest against Chinese this month alone, according to Human Rights Watch. That’s almost one a day. Against this chaotic backdrop, Chinese authorities have issued an arrest order for a missing monk who helped film a 2008 documentary about life…
Awardees say indignation trumps intimidation
The battle for a free press sometimes feels like a war between indignation and intimidation. Journalists learn of abuses of power, crime, or corruption, and–indignant–they speak out. In response, the perpetrators of those abuses–be they government officials or criminals–try to intimidate the journalists into silence with threats, lawsuits, jail, or even murder. Last night, the…