{"id":6700,"date":"2016-03-09T14:17:06","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T19:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=6700"},"modified":"2016-03-09T14:17:06","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T19:17:06","slug":"chinese-magazine-challenges-government-over-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/chinese-magazine-challenges-government-over-censorship","title":{"rendered":"Chinese magazine challenges government over censorship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weeks after Xi Jinping demanded loyalty from media, Caixin claims it was ordered to remove interview on free speech<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Xi

Xi Jinping visiting China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing on 19 February, where he demanded absolute loyalty from Chinese media. Photograph: Ma Zhancheng\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

One of China\u2019s most respected current affairs magazines has lashed out at Communist party censorship of its work, just weeks after the president, Xi Jinping, demanded absolute loyalty from his country\u2019s media.<\/p>\n

An article on Caixin\u2019s English-language website<\/span><\/a> on Tuesday claimed the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) \u2013 which it labelled a \u201cgovernment censorship organ\u201d \u2013 had ordered the removal of an interview posted on its Chinese-language website that focused on the issue of free speech.<\/p>\n

In the purged interview, a prominent Shanghai academic and government adviser called Jiang Hong argued that advisers such as himself should \u201cbe free to give Communist party and government agencies suggestions on economic, political, cultural and societal issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Caixin claimed that the CAC, Beijing\u2019s internet watchdog, had taken exception to the article, alleging it contained \u201cillegal content\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to that act of censorship, the magazine, which is run by one of China\u2019s most revered journalists, Hu Shuli, took the highly unusual step of challenging the government in an article headlined: Story about Adviser\u2019s Free Speech Comments Removed from Caixin Website.<\/p>\n

The piece was illustrated with a photograph of a mouth that had been gagged with masking tape:<\/p>\n

\"TomCaixin again interviewed Jiang, who teaches at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, who decried the \u201cbaffling\u201d episode of censorship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is terrible and bewildering,\u201d Jiang told the magazine. \u201cI examined [the article] in all respects, but I couldn\u2019t see anything illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a tweet, Caixin claimed its article about free speech had made Chinese censors \u201cjittery\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

By Tuesday afternoon the English-language story denouncing the original article\u2019s censorship had itself been removed from the internet and replaced by the message: \u201cSorry, page not found.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Caixin\u2019s decision to take on China\u2019s censors comes less than a month after Xi, whose rise to power has seen a severe political tightening, made a high-profile visit to Chinese news outlets to demand their absolute loyalty.<\/p>\n

During his tour of three Communist party controlled outlets, Xi instructed journalists that \u201cthey must love the party, protect the party, and closely align themselves with the party leadership in thought, politics and action\u201d.<\/p>\n

David Bandurski, an expert in Chinese journalism from the University of Hong Kong, said Caixin\u2019s decision to speak out after that visit was both bold and rare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really speaks to a kind of desperation about the environment for journalism in China<\/span> that they would come out and make an incident of this,\u201d he said. \u201c[It is] all the Ds: despair, depression, despondency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChinese media are under a lot of pressure right now. They have been under pressure for years, even before Xi Jinping. But it has intensified to such a level under Xi that we are really seeing the erosion of nearly all space for professional media,\u201d added Bandurski, who is the editor of the University of Hong Kong\u2019s China Media Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is on eggshells. Everybody is walking on glass now. It is such an intense environment of control that no one knows what is possible. No one can get their bearings. This is a real problem for journalists now. How do we play any meaningful role in society if we can\u2019t write much at all and we have no idea what we even can write?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bandurski said it was hard to predict whether Caixin would suffer serious sanctions over its decision to take on the Communist party\u2019s censors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could end with the removing of the piece and a stern warning,\u201d he said. \u201c[But] we are kind of throwing our assumptions out of the window with Xi Jinping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/mar\/08\/chinese-magazine-challenges-government-censorship-organ?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weeks after Xi Jinping demanded loyalty … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,167],"tags":[1556,37,1558,1557,783,103],"views":4701,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6703,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700\/revisions\/6703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}