Call for China Media Body
2009-03-07
China＇s media czar takes aim, but experts wonder if anyone can rein in Web 2.0.
HONG KONG—The top Chinese official in charge of publications has called for a press commission to regulate the country＇s already tightly controlled media, saying that the standards for Web censorship in particular are "fuzzy."
"Right now in China there are standards, but they consist of some judicial clarifications of what exactly constitutes rumor-mongering, what exactly constitutes pornography, and what the video or photos look like, and these are concentrated in the hands of a few industry experts," Liu Binjie, head of the General Administration of Press and Publications under China＇s cabinet, or State Council, was quoted as saying in a recent interview with state media.
"Also, the standards are rather fuzzy," Liu said in an interview with the Guangzhou Daily and China Central Television (CCTV).
Liu called for an independent press commission along the lines of those seen in "other countries."
"In many other countries, the government doesn＇t tell the media you can＇t do this or that. Instead there is an independent commission made up of people from all walks of life," he said.
Liu said such a body could issue an opinion at any time on the mass media, and the government would then proceed accordingly when telling the media organization not to print an offending article, or not to make a video game available online.
Freedoms curbed
Recent "anti-pornography" campaigns to remove undesirable content from Chinese Web sites have drawn angry satire from the country＇s 298 million Internet users.
While much official media coverage of censorship focuses on protecting young people, who make up 35.2 percent of Web users, civil rights activists, and bloggers say freedom of speech is being seriously hampered under the umbrella of anti-porn.
"The so-called anti-pornography campaign is frequently also targeted at dissenting voices," according to Zan Aizong, former reporter for the China Ocean News.
"For example, you＇re not allowed to talk about June 4, 1989...This has nothing to do with pornography. It is a question of historical truth," Zan said.
"But no sooner do you write June 4 online than it is regarded as a sensitive term, and brought within the purview of the anti-pornography campaign."
Sichuan-based Web activist Liu Zhengyou said Liu Binjie＇s comments took no account of public opinion.
"They might as well have been made by Liu Yunshan, the head of the Communist Party Central Propaganda Department, because both have to ensure they are on message," Liu Zhengyou said.
"The sad thing for the Chinese people is that their right to get their message across is being stripped away," he said.
According to Liu, China＇s Web censors have stepped up activities in 2009.
"Anyone who speaks the truth online is getting stuff deleted, or even their whole site blocked. The controls are getting stricter and stricter," he said.
"The authorities are getting more and more afraid of people＇s desire to supervise their work and their lawless actions. They are terrified. Now that the Chinese people are using the power of the Internet to make their voices heard, corrupt officials are beginning to feel that it would be better if the Internet had never existed."
Promise of social media
In a blog post this week titled "Great Firewall vs. Web 2.0," prominent Chinese blogger Isaac Mao also noted increased censorship of the Web.
"Just in the past six years, [the Chinese authorities] have released more than 10 regulations to curb people＇s right to publish," he wrote, citing a requirement that bloggers should register with their real names, removing the protection of anonymity.
"Also they monitor people＇s traffic to punish those free speakers to frighten others. They sent over thousands of net police to force businesses to do self-censorship," Mao said.
But he said the recent escalation in government censorship had never faced such big challenges as it did now from the profusion of social media, collectively known as Web 2.0.
"Each time the authority add new censorship rules, the blogosphere will not only cry out loudly to the whole world but also find new ways to bypass it," Mao said.
He said a survey carried out at the annual Chinese Blogger Conference in 2008 found the number of people aware of China＇s Great Firewall had risen from just two percent to 10 percent since the previous year.
"Then there comes stronger will for circumvention," Mao wrote.
China＇s 47 million bloggers are frequently subjected to censorship by their Internet service providers, but politically sensitive material also routinely falls through the cracks as individual companies interpret government guidelines in their own way.
In a report focusing on user-generated content on social media and blogging platforms, Hong Kong University new media professor Rebecca MacKinnon found that censorship levels across 15 different Chinese blogging platforms varied even more than expected.
The report, titled "China＇s Censorship 2.0: How Chinese Companies Censor Bloggers," also said "a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and chances for survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy."
Original reporting in Mandarin by Gao Shan. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
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