Media regulation

Celebrating freedom, until the next clampdown

At the beginning of this year, the Freezing Point (冰点) supplement of the state-owned China Youth Daily (中国青年报) was suspended and Li Datong, its editor in chief was sacked. Coming shortly after an editorial shakeup at The Beijing News (新京报) at which a number of senior editors lost their jobs in an apparent government attack on the newspaper's relatively critical content. The word 'clampdown' began to be invoked by Western commentators, as journalists and bloggers speculated that Hu Jintao was perhaps less liberal than Jiang Zemin when it came to press freedom and human rights. (Your correspondent's take on these events is here: A sting in the tail of the Year of the Rooster.)

Last week, The Economist ran an opinion piece called I'll jolly well say what we want to — Against expectations, China's media are taking free speech seriously.

The article refers to opposition by media to the proposed law that would punish news media for reporting "unauthorized" news of suddenly breaking emergencies:

Caijing, a fortnightly magazine, quoted one academic on its website as saying that freedom of the press was an offshoot of the constitution's (little observed) guarantee of freedom of speech. Restrictions should therefore be introduced with caution. Another academic reportedly said that giving local governments the power to interpret the rules could turn China into a “police society”. Southern Metropolis News, a widely read daily, said in an online commentary that delays in releasing news would only encourage rumours. It called for “healthy competition” between the media and the government over information on emergencies.

Appearing at the same time as The Economist article was a piece by Li Datong himself published in Chinese on Hong Kong's Apple Daily, and in a slightly different English version on Japan Times Online. ESWN's translation of the Chinese article is linked below. Here is an excerpt from the Japan Times version:

But many metropolitan newspapers that once thrived on infotainment have seen their circulation fall in recent years. Sooner or later, readers will start to buy newspapers that can truly inform them and give voice to their opinions.

In fact, it is these tabloids, responding to market pressure, that have started to take on responsibility as public watchdogs. On many occasions in recent years, they have been the first to break sensitive news. As a result, mainstream media are being marginalized, and the previously marginalized media are becoming mainstream.

Thus, even without any change in the current system of regulation, extensive coverage of disasters, judicial abuses, and citizens' pursuit of their statutory rights, along with the questioning of policies from public perspectives, is now common.

So are we now going to see more Western media reports about the Beijing spring? Probably, soon to be followed by more articles on the inevitable clampdown (on somebody or something) that will precede the Spring Festival.

- Note: A key part of understanding the Chinese media environment that Li Datong does not touch on in this article is discussed in this David Moser article on Danwei: Media "Schizophrenia" in China.

Links and Sources
There are currently 0 Comments for Celebrating freedom, until the next clampdown.

Post a comment

All comments are moderated and subject to review by Danwei contributors and editors, but well-grounded and articulate comments will be published regardless of which way they lean. Because comments published on any website ultimately contribute to the character of that website, we may decline to publish comments that are irrelevant, redundant, or that do not adhere to generally accepted standards of courtesy; if you are looking for a fight, there are plenty of other venues available online.


Some useful html: <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>,
<a href="http://www.danwei.org">link</a>

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
AXL091030storiesforthcoming.jpg
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine - 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ The top Chinese books in 2007 (2008.02): China Reading Journal (中华读书报), Yazhou Zhoukan (亚洲周刊), and City Pictorial (城市画报) choose mainland China's top books for 2007.
+ Men behind the Nanny (2005.04): The Publicity Department (formerly known as the Propaganda Department) has held a "forum" in Beijing to promote what it calls "news editorial staff management regulations (in testing phase)". These regulations appear to be same the set of rules earlier reported on Danwei of which the stated intent is to clear up corrupt journalistic practices.
+ Asimov Published, Interviewed in Beijing (2005.03): Cover story from this week's Book Review section of The Beijing News announces the publication of a Chinese translation of Isaac Asimov's complete Foundation series. Yup, the Beijing News has scored a fictional interview with "I, Asimov". They've been taking similar liberties recently in their entertainment sections, captioning photographs of celebrities with made-up quotes.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30