Chinese censors provoke media outcry

A clash between China's censors and two of the country's respected media outlets has cast doubts on the new central leadership's promise of greater openness.

The Guangzhou-based Southern Weekendsaw its New Year message - which made the case for stronger constitutional rule in China - altered at the last minute by Guangdong's provincial propaganda chief.

The act triggered an online furore and a rare group protest by the paper's reporters calling for the resignation of the official involved, Tuo Zhen, who reportedly had the message edited to sing praises of the Communist Party.

The original article titled "China dream, the dream of constitutionalism" had argued that "only by realising rule by Constitution, effectively checking power, can citizens vocally criticise authority".

But the new version by Tuo cut all mention of the need for political reform and asserted that the Chinese people are "closer than ever" to their dream of renaissance.

"The incident over the New Year greeting has sparked anger among media circles and the public and has become the worst media scandal in recent years," said the paper's reporters in a petition last Friday, demanding that Tuo apologise and resign.

In another petition letter yesterday, the paper's editors noted that last year, censors had changed or killed 1,034 articles in the weekly, or nearly 20 articles per issue.

This comes as the authorities shut down the website of the Beijing-based pro-reform Yanhuang Chunqiu journal and microblogging accounts of several bloggers.

The journal's website editor Zhang Xiao Ou told local media the official reason given was that it failed to renew its registration. The journal's deputy director Yang Jisheng said it was told by an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to shut down the website last Monday. It was blocked in China from last Friday.

Known for its articles on party history and political reform, the journal could have upset the authorities with its latest commentaries, such as one suggesting that the Chinese Communist Party should draw lessons from the corruption case involving former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai and limit the power of party secretaries.

The censors' actions have sparked an uproar among netizens in China, given the respect enjoyed by both Southern Weekend and Yanhuang Chunqiu.

"Are officials not worried about leaving a bad name after they die? Do they really not care about notoriety?" a former Southern Weekendreporter Lin Chufang wrote on his microblog site.

Many observers say the incidents have put question marks over the sincerity of a call for greater media openness by top leaders like Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang.

But journalism expert Zhan Jiang believes the clampdown may not necessarily have been on the orders of the new leaders. "It has nothing to do with the highest leaders but is done by officials below," he told The Sunday Times.

The controversy has created a headache for the Xi-Li leadership as well as new Guangdong party chief Hu Chunhua, he added.

Meanwhile, the state-run Global Times, which usually toes the party line, has also waded into the debate. In its editorial published last Friday, the paper said Chinese media should not aspire to behave like their Western peers, given the different political realities in China.

But it also took aim at China's censors, noting that media management needs to evolve with the times. "The reality is that old media regulatory policies cannot go on as they are now. The society is progressing, and the management should evolve," it observed.

相关新闻：

    外交部发言人：中国不存在新闻审查制度

    2013年新年伊始，就发生了中国新闻史上的重大丑闻：广东省委宣传部删改《南方周末》新年献词。

    据《南方周末》编辑记者爆料，广东省委宣传部是于献词刊登前一天，编辑记者均在家休假、完全不知情的情况下，修改并撤换原已定稿的新年特刊，以及里面的献词。当局除了修改标题、删改内容，还未经编辑部审定修改和校对就在头版添加短文。

    事件发生后，连日遭到了新闻记者和网民的强烈抨击。中国外交部发言人华春莹4日在外交部例行记者会上受询时，以事件不属外交事务为由拒绝多说。但她补充道：“我想原则性地指出，在中国不存在所谓的新闻审查制度，中国政府依法保护新闻自由，也充分发挥了新闻媒体和公民的舆论监督作用。”

    中国官媒《环球时报》昨天刊登评论，呼吁外界冷静看待《南方周末》的事件，婉转地为官方辩护。评论说，媒体管理确实需要与时俱进，但中国媒体不可能和西方媒体一样，“这应是中国所有媒体人选择入这行时最基本的判断”。“中国的政治体制与西方不同，媒体无法脱离国家政治现实而单独、浪漫地存在。媒体是中国改革最活跃的因素之一，但它的摆动幅度不可能是无限的。”

    《环球时报》的评论恰恰为华春莹的说法添加了注脚：即中国不存在新闻审查制度，中国执行的是新闻管制制度。

    继广州《南方周末》新年献词被官方大幅删改后，中国另一以敢言著称的月刊《炎黄春秋》的网站昨天也突然被注销关闭。

    于1991年创办的《炎黄春秋》带右翼政治色彩，曾刊登多篇“政治敏感”文章。加之网站刚发表言辞犀利的新年献词，外界不禁联想，网站可能是因触及当局底线而被封。《炎黄春秋》在2012年最后一天发表题为“宪法是政治体制改革的共识”的新年献词。献词在呼吁维护宪法之际，间接批评中国政府没有按宪法规定保障人权、确保言论自由，并指全国人民代表大会并未真的掌握罢免等权力，没有如宪法所形容，成为真正的“国家权力机关”。

    也有乐观者认为，否极泰来，这或许是好事，此次南周事件或将大大促进中国公民的言论权。（来源：兰陵客博客）