China : Me and My Censor

I found this story, a few days back and wanted to share with ATS. Its a compelling story of the inner workings of China, and their Censorship in the Media. Many people believe that China is becoming a country, that is embracing freedom. After reading this story, I must confess that it is far from the truth. The misconceptions of the West, The propaganda, and manipulation of its Press will always be part of China. I personally believe, it will never change.

Every legally registered publication in China is subject to review by a censor, sometimes several. Some expat publications have entire teams of censors scouring their otherwise innocuous restaurant reviews and bar write-ups for, depending on one's opinion of foreigners, accidental or coded allusions to sensitive topics. For example, That's Shanghai magazine once had to strike the number 64 from a short, unrelated article because their censors believed it might be read as an oblique reference to June 4, 1989, when the Chinese government bloodily suppressed a pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. Many Chinese-run publications have no censor at all, but their editors are relied upon to know where the line falls -- i.e., to self-censor.

Business content is not censored as strictly as other areas in China, since it seems to be understood that greater openness is needed to push the economy forward and it doesn't necessarily deal with the political issues Chinese rulers seem to find the most sensitive. English-language content isn't censored as much either, since only a small fraction of the Chinese population reads English. (As foreigners reporting on non-sensitive subjects in English, we could worry much less about the dangers -- threats, beatings, jail time -- that occasionally befall muckraking Chinese journalists.) And, in the beginning, most of Snow's edits were minor enough that we didn't feel compromised. We couldn't say that a businessperson came back to China from the United States after "Tiananmen," but we could say "June 1989," knowing that our readers knew the significance of the month. We couldn't say "the Cultural Revolution" but could write "the late 1960s and early 1970s," to allude to then Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong launching his disastrous campaign that sent millions of intellectuals to the countryside. Writing that a company planned to expand into "foreign markets like Taiwan and Korea" was forbidden because it suggested that Taiwan was a separate country from China, but we could say "overseas markets," since, according to Snow, Taiwan literally is over a body of water from the mainland.

Me and My Censor A reporter's memoir of what it's like to tell the truth about today's China.

We take for granted, what freedoms we have in the West, and in America. Imagine having everything you hear, everything being written, censored to some extent?




ATS, thoughts?

and ? in the west media censors events all the time ... speach is curbed by political correctness and government newspeak .... clean up your own house before condemning others houses...

reply to post by Expat888


Exactly, political correctness is taking all over the west. That and a very biased media.

I`ve been in Hong Kong and Xanghai, if you are not trying something against the government you will be ok there, which is not that different from the west.

Originally posted by Expat888
and ? in the west media censors events all the time ... speach is curbed by political correctness and government newspeak .... clean up your own house before condemning others houses...

First, did you read the whole article?

Im not going to lie, and say the media here in the US, is the best in the World. Far from it. We are talking though of a Country limiting what news gets out to their public, by striking certain words, and telling editors and Journalists what they can say and what they cant say.

WHY cant the Chinese people talk about Mao in a negative light? WHY cant they talk about Tienanmen Square?

You find nothing wrong with that? Lets not deflect from the issue I raised, and the article states.

reply to post by hououinkyouma


After reading the article, I took away a feeling that Some things can be said outright.In the end though, if something written, or said, doesn't jive with the "Communist" way, it will be changed, either by the editors self-Censoring, or by the Government.

Case in point?

BEIJING, CHINA: Author Jin Song is relishing the challenge of beating China's army of censors and posting comments online about the country's impending leadership change, the first in the social media era. Referring by name to the 18th Communist Party congress, set to begin next Thursday, can be difficult.

One of Jin's posts on the subject was deleted and he received a message saying "system managers" had removed it. The trick is to find similar-sounding words in Chinese when writing on the heavily policed but hugely popular "weibo" sites such as Sina Weibo, a microblog akin to Twitter, which is banned along with Facebook and YouTube. Substituting homophones for political catchwords is second-nature to Chinese netizens, who poked fun at President Hu Jintao's call for social "harmony" by posting about "river crabs", a term that sounds similar to harmony in Chinese.

As Power Changes Hands, Chinese Censors Work Overtime

I am sure Journalists are trying desperately to circumvent.....

reply to post by sonnny1


The press nowadays is merely an arm of big business.

We are allowed to believe that we have a free press. We don't.

reply to post by sonnny1


Are you living in what planet ?!?

The misconceptions of the West, The propaganda, and manipulation of its Press will always be part of China. I personally believe, it will never change.

We take for granted, what freedoms we have in the West, and in America. Imagine having everything you hear, everything being written, censored to some extent?

Other states also do manipulation they just are not so open about it and even need to spend and maintain a sensor structure. Just look on ATS about how this has been detected many times from the different covers of TIMES (US vs International distribution) to the apathy of the general American population.

The only difference is that it is easier to control a somewhat more content population, but there is in general an illusion of freedom, even of choice.

Just because in the West one can't see the bars of the cage it doesn't that they aren't there... See for instance on the subject of Timor (the general issue, the cover it had), the shenanigans in Libya, what is happening in Egypt and Syria...

Well I grant you one thing at least in the West we can still use the new media to communicate but the message is mostly lost in the cacophony...

We have those here too. We just call them editors. Here at ATS we call them moderators

reply to post by Panic2k11


But Panic....

Your allowed, even on this site, or a blog, to mock, ridicule, and outright denounce a Government.

In China, not so much.

Even "talking" about Censorship, is frowned upon.... in China.

reply to post by sonnny1


The key is as you say...

In China, not so much.

In the right context you are allowed to, for instance inside the party, militants and active members can and it is not as it is a state secret. You have also to contextualize the problem in China's reality only on the big metropolis and in "the cultural" elite censorship is really a problem to the rest is is simply a restriction regarding discourse and news.

I'm not stating that censorship is not a problem but the problem is not unique to China, power requires the control of dialog and the shaping of mind-frames. I believe most Chinese are fully aware of the problems regarding for instance the cultural revolution in general, even in China censorship is evolving toward Western standards as the party understands that it can't control the flow of information effectively.

Compare China with North Korea in terms of freedom of information and you have a similar disparity. The level of censorship normaly equals the level of culture (knowledge of a nation) the more alienated the citizens are of the world reality the greater control it is needed to keep them even to have a peek at it. Once censorship and propaganda becomes obvious it starts to lose effectiveness, this is more or less the situation we are witnessing in the West, people are becoming more knowledgeable and aware forcing the systems of control to evolve (that is why there are strong forces at foot to control the Internet). Now imagine if the West or even China replicated Iran a disconnected the Internet, the social unrest would increase...

Originally posted by TKDRL
We have those here too. We just call them editors. Here at ATS we call them moderators

edit on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:31:37 -0600 by TKDRL because: (no reason given)

The difference is there are rules on ATS.

When you signed up, you signed to obey those rules. Now, if you don't like those rules, there are other sites to go on, that you don't have guidelines set in place. Editing and Censoring? Two very different things........

reply to post by sonnny1


Not really, the editor is the guy who decides what stories are run, and what stories go into the trash bin, correct? Maybe I am thinking of the wrong title? Let me make sure I got that much right before pushing on to my next point.

reply to post by Panic2k11


I thought the article was spot on, and shed some light on China, and its censorship.

I found it funny, that the censor for this Journalist gave key insight, on how its done. I also found it ironic that she hated her job, but still supported censoring.......

Originally posted by TKDRL
reply to post by sonnny1

 

Not really, the editor is the guy who decides what stories are run, and what stories go into the trash bin, correct? Maybe I am thinking of the wrong title? Let me make sure I got that much right before pushing on to my next point.

edit on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:26:12 -0600 by TKDRL because: (no reason given)

Censoring is this cant be printed, because its going to make the Government look bad. Editing is actually taking the parts out, to make the Government look good.



Censorship is "forced" in China.

reply to post by TKDRL


This is censorship in China.

Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is implemented or mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Communist Party of China (CPC). Notable censored subjects include but are not limited to, democracy, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Falun Gong, ethnic independence movements, corruption, police brutality, anarchism, gossip, disparity of wealth, food safety, pornography, news sources that report on these issues, religious content, and many other websites.[1]

Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching a wide audience including television, print media, radio, film, theater, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature and the Internet. Chinese officials have access to uncensored information via an internal document system. Reporters Without Borders ranks China's press situation as "very serious", the worst ranking on their five-point scale.[2] China's Internet censorship policy is labeled as "pervasive" by the OpenNet Initiative's global Internet filtering map, also the worst ranking used.[3] Freedom House ranks the press there as "not free", the worst ranking, saying that "state control over the news media in China is achieved through a complex combination of party monitoring of news content, legal restrictions on journalists, and financial incentives for self-censorship."[4

Censorship in China

I dont think anyone can compare it to America, per say.

reply to post by sonnny1


Ok, so I was thinking of the right title then. Here is where I am going with this. The FBI doesn't want papers to run a story about, I don't know, say a pedophile ring being protected by the FBI. The FBI just threaten the papers, that they will never get any information from them ever again, if they run the story. They would just cave in, that could mean a lot of potentially lost stories, too much of a gamble for just one story. Or if it is just one paper, they could make a trade, trash this story, and your paper gets the scoop on the next big case.

The white house could send out a memo warning not to run a story, or their press passes will be revoked, too much of a gamble, probably just cave. The coercion methods are more covert, than say, oh, I will kill you and your family, then sell your organs to isreal if you print this. But still, they have ways to put pressure on editors, to essentially coerce them into censoring.

reply to post by sonnny1

To get a true gauge upon what the Chinese think of their Countries Leadership...all one has to do is look at the Millions of Chinese who pierced Government Internet Filters to get Real Time coverage of the U.S. Election. How many Americans were trying to watch the Chinese Communist Party picking their New Leaders? OH! WAIT! I forgot. Even the Chinese People can't watch THAT! LOL! Split Infinity

reply to post by TKDRL


I understand where you are coming from.

The biggest difference is this. In China, EVERYTHING you just talked about, would not only be censored, you would probobly be interrogated, and sent to prison, for even writing those thoughts down. You cant compare it.

Originally posted by SplitInfinity
reply to post by sonnny1

 

To get a true gauge upon what the Chinese think of their Countries Leadership...all one has to do is look at the Millions of Chinese who pierced Government Internet Filters to get Real Time coverage of the U.S. Election. How many Americans were trying to watch the Chinese Communist Party picking their New Leaders? OH! WAIT! I forgot. Even the Chinese People can't watch THAT! LOL! Split Infinity

At risk of fines, and prison time, to boot.

reply to post by sonnny1


This is true. I do admit china is way worse, would have to be a fool to think otherwise.