Change or a second hundred flowers?
Since the previous entry here was about how local officials used their powers to censor unfavorable news, I thought it was appropriate to post this report along side of it.It is also from the Washington Post, and offers an opportunity to review a bit of Chinese history as well as to examine the roles played by the government in shaping political reality.
Bad News Tests China's Propaganda Arm
"According to a report circulating among Beijing intellectuals, Li Changchun [shown at left while visiting Tashkent], China's senior propaganda official, went to President Hu Jintao recently suggesting a ban on the July issue of the magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu."The scholarly monthly had published a long and daring article by a Communist Party professor saying that the party's monopoly on power was the "root cause" of many of the ills afflicting modern-day China, including corruption and peasant unrest.
"Although Hu has generally shown a restrictive attitude toward free speech, he counseled tolerance this time, the report said, advising Li that it is healthier to have such debate out in the open than to let it ferment under the surface. The magazine remains on the stands...
"'News publishing professionals must resolutely instill a Marxist concept of news, maintain party principles, firmly uphold professional ethics and voluntarily commit themselves to upholding the sacred mission and glorious responsibility bestowed on them by the party and the people,' said an order issued Monday by the party's main propaganda organizations.
"The order was handed down in response to a high-impact Beijing Television broadcast this month reporting that a fast-food restaurant had mixed cardboard with pork in stuffing its steamed dumplings. The report caused a sensation among Beijing residents, who cherish their dumplings and who were already sensitized by weeks of reporting on food safety concerns.
"But authorities quickly branded the broadcast a hoax...
"In the minds of authorities and Chinese who follow the party line, the scandal was a way to undermine weeks of other reporting on tainted food and drugs, including numerous dispatches by foreign correspondents...
"But years of party propaganda and news reports distorted by censorship have instilled skepticism among other Chinese, particularly the better-educated. The party propaganda apparatus, which enforces censorship rules, has little credibility to lecture journalists on accuracy, they noted in Internet postings. In that light, some Beijingers expressed belief the cardboard dumplings report was true...
"Chinese authorities have been particularly sensitive recently about how the party is portrayed... officials have begun the countdown to a crucial party congress in the fall during which Hu is expected to cement his leadership, establish his ideological credentials and stack party organizations with his supporters. Against that background, the rash of negative news has been particularly unwelcome.
"After a meeting of top Beijing propaganda officials, for instance, the capital's newspaper editors and television news directors last week were handed a list of newly off-limits subjects, Beijing journalists reported. The list included food safety as well as riots, fires, deadly auto accidents and bloody murder cases, they said.
"'Our bosses said the next couple of months, preceding the 17th Party Congress, will be very tense,' a Beijing reporter said after getting the new instructions..."
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:36 AM
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