WHEN reading about themselves or their country’s affairs of state, China’s leaders do not like to be surprised or contradicted. They have little to worry about in conventional media, over which—for the most part—the Communist Party exerts tight control. But matters are different online, where journalists sometimes have had better luck in dodging the party’s censors. They may not for long.
On July 24th the Beijing municipal branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered some of China’s biggest internet companies, including Sina, Sohu and Netease (which are listed on NASDAQ), to stop publishing independent reports on politically sensitive topics. Official media said some news portals would be fined. Such restrictions have been in place at least since 2005. But internet companies have often ignored them (albeit cautiously), hoping to attract more readers among the country’s 700m netizens.
One violation that is believed to have angered the leadership was a typo this month in the headline of a story published by Tencent News. Instead of “Xi Jinping delivered an important speech”, it said that the president had...Continue reading
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