The Chinese government's two main bodies of censorship, SARFT (State Administration for Radio, Film, and Television) and GAPP (General Administration for Press and Publications), are to merge and become one super administration. Although some...
CATEGORY: China
Chinese journalists back at work after “tacit agreement” with censors
After a week of protests and walkouts over a censored Near Year editorial, and rigorous calls for press freedom, journalists at China’s Southern Weekly have gone back to work. A normal edition of the paper was published last Thursday. Outrage over...
The mechanics of China’s internet censorship
Even rainstorms can be sensitive in China. The recent storm in Beijing which killed at least 77 people caused the censors to come out in force, with newspapers told to can coverage and online accounts of the deluge snipped. But with 500 million...

Southern Weekly censorship causes nationwide condemnation
A propaganda chief has caused widespread outrage by censoring a Chinese newspaper's New Year editorial. Southern Weekly, one of the most daring media outlets in the country, has fought back and attracted the support of netizens as well as ordinary...

Xi’s the one: What the pundits are saying about China’s next leader
The world's two biggest superpowers are about to choose their next leaders. While the American battle is laid bare for all to see, in China, Beijing's new emperor and his closest advisers are something of a mystery. That hasn't stopped the rest of...
Ai Weiwei does Gangnam Style (really)
Update 26/10: The clip below has now been blocked in China. While Korean pop sensation Psy was teaching UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon how to do the Gangnam Style dance, Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei was at work in his Beijing studio mastering the...
China will change leaders, but keep censorship
Sometime before the end of the year, China Communist party will hold its 18th Congress, when the old batch of leaders will step aside for a new crop. Rumours are flying about what will happen then, from the almost certainty that Xi Jinping will...
Happy birthday, Dalai Lama: China celebrates by cutting comms in Tibetan region
It was the Dalai Lama’s birthday last week; he turned 77. China celebrated in its own unique way by severing public communication services, with both text messaging and internet access disabled for two days in Ganzi prefecture, a Tibetan autonomous...

Chinese delegation pull out of Sheffield Doc/Fest after organisers refuse to censor programme
The Chinese delegation of commissioning editors has pulled out of the Sheffield Documentary Festival due to the screening of a film about artist Ai Weiwei called Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. Directed by Alison Klayman, the film observes the subversive...

1968 Mexico Olympics: The student deaths that marred the Games
Sunday Times reporter Brian Glanville, who has died aged 93, was expecting to cover the Olympics in 1968 – instead he found himself reporting the massacre of 300 students