The Soup That Is Censorship

Michael Hedges January 14, 2013 - Follow on Twitter

New media has taken its place as rabble rouser-in-chief. Torrents of tiny text can literally light up the sky. Even where censors try to pull the shades, people stay one line – or character – ahead. Anyway, it’s all very good for business.

China’s censorship culture felt the crush of protest, live and microblogging, after a local propaganda minister ordered a newspaper to drop a pro-reform New Year’s editorial for something more fluffy.  Staffers at the Southern Weekly went out on strike, which ignited protests in China complete with social media outrage and the widespread attention of Western media. Pro-democracy demonstrators and old-line Communists hurled rants at each other outside the newspaper’s offices until local police chased them off.

The Southern Weekly returned to newsstands last Thursday in Beijing and Shanghai but, according to Reuters (January 10), not widely in Guangzhou where it’s based. Guangdong Communist Party Secretary Hu Chunhua personally intervened, reported shanghaiist.com (January 9). Newspapers staffers were ordered not to talk to foreign media and not to complain publicly about Guangdong propaganda minister Tuo Zhen.

Mr. Hu is new to the job, appointed in December as the Communist Party reshuffled leadership positions following the elevation of Xi Jinping as national party chairman. Last November Mr. Hu became one of the youngest members of the Communist Party Politburo. Mr. Tuo became chief censor in Guangdong Province last May after serving as vice president of state news agency Xinhua. The clampdown on Southern Weekly, often described as a progressive voice, began on Mr. Tuo’s arrival.

Other Chinese newspaper editors and reporters got in their two-yuan worth. When daily Beijing Times was presented, along with other newspapers, an official editorial denouncing the Southern Weekly tiff, the publisher and chief editor Dai Zigeng told Beijing municipal propaganda deputy Yan Liqiang to shove it. The editorial, originating with the Communist Party affiliated Global Times, offered a blunt threat, reported Asahi Shimbon (January 10). “Any media organization in China that confronts the government will end up being the loser.”

In the presence of Mr. Yan, according to inside sources quoted by Asahi Shimbon, Mr. Dai put the question to the assembled reporters and editors, who rejected the government editorial. “We will not carry the editorial,” announced Mr. Dai. “If you still insist that we carry it, I will resign my post.” The frustrated Mr. Yan left the meeting to phone up the printing plant, telling them to hold the press unless the editorial appeared. It did, finally, but on page 20 rather than the customary page 2. Another newspaper published the official editorial but placed it beside an ad for pest control, widely viewed as a statement. In the end, Mr. Dai did not resign.

Also appearing in the Beijing Times was a brief interesting piece on “porridge of the south,” explained the China Media Project (January 9). The Mandarin word for porridge sounds like the second character of weekly and a shorthand for Southern Weekly sounds like porridge of the south. “Hot porridge in an earthen pot, hailing from the southland,” said the translation. “Just set upon the table, the porridge still writhes with heat. Perhaps it still has a heart of courage. In the deep of the cold night, you open your mouth and white steam billows. There are so many cares in the world, and all you can count on for warmth is this bowl of porridge. A bowl of hot porridge tells us of the power of love and consolation.”

Media freedom as a concept differs considerably, West to East. Where civil and political rights – press and speech freedoms included – are enshrined as pillars to democracy and, thus, all things good a certain absolutism prevents debate. Beyond economic, social and cultural rights newer concepts differentiate communication rights along with employment, health care and education. Several governments have moved to enshrine internet access.

Much of the clamor played out in China on Sina Weibo, the hugely popular microblog site. It has nearly 400 million users. This is not lost on the Chinese government, which censored keywords last week including the name Southern Weekly. It’s one thing to order a newspaper to change or delete an article or column and quite another to bring social networks to heel.

Almost by coincidence Beijing was visited last week by Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google chairman Erik Schmidt. It was not for sightseeing; Beijing air pollution reaching highest ever levels. Google’s search market share in China has been in sharp decline since a censorship row but the prospect for mobile products, where Sina Weibo lives, is huge. Dr. Schmidt met with mobile app developers.

A year ago, Apple was forced to suspend retail iPhone4S sales after a near-riot in Beijing. Mr. Cook met this last week with China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua, who has 700 million subscribers and no deal with Apple. Imagine the possibilities.

See also in ftm Knowledge

China and Media

For the media world China both entices and exasperates. Potentials in this youthful and rapidly developing country are huge. Yet media freedoms are far below world standards. This ftm Knowledge file peers over the Great Wall. Includes Resources 79 pages PDF (May 2012)

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