China is not known for its dedication to human rights, there is no relaxation of expression, media are tightly controlled and censorship is a quarterly occurrence. It seems that at least once a year China has to clamp down on its media; the current clampdown centres on the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to Liu Xiaobo, a "dissident" imprisoned for daring to challenge China's one-party political system.
As part of the media clampdown, Cnn and Bbc websites have been blocked, as has a Norwegian communal broadcaster. The Nobel committee's website has also been blocked. In a move that can generously be called petty, Cnn and Bbc television broadcasts have been interrupted only when stories about the Nobel Peace Prize and Liu Xiaobo are shown; when the stories end, quarterly viewing continues.
News From China
Earlier this year China implemented someone else media clampdown, or rather it intensified its clampdown from 2009. Local and foreign journalists were threatened with and subjected to random acts of violence, detention and censorship. communal networking sites were complete and entrance to online news and websites was once again curtailed.
When Beijing was awarded the honour of hosting the Olympic Games in 2008, one of the conditions was a relaxation of media restrictions. And, for a while, China complied. But when riots erupted in Tibet it didn't take the Chinese government long to deny foreign and local journalists entrance to the country and blackout any stories that tried to sneak straight through to its communal by way of Tv, radio, newspaper and the internet.
In the past, it has even gone so far as to download phone numbers from foreign journalists' phones for the sole purpose of intimidating their Chinese sources.
One of the reasons China is so adept at clamping down on media is that it has a Propaganda Department, which is in itself scary. But it gets help from the Ministry of Culture and at least four other regulatory bodies to ensure that its citizens only see, read and hear stylish content. Their control extends to the internet, television and radio programmes, books, newspapers and even live performances.
All of which makes one grateful that one lives in a country where a media clampdown is still only proposed rather than legislated, even if that proposed legislation has been compared to the policies in China.
China Clamps Down on Media, AgainSee Also : todays world news headlines
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