25 Mar 2009 | Uncategorized
The YouTube phenomenon Song of the Grass-Mud Horse (Cao Ni Ma), has been doing the rounds since January. It’s a jaunty little children’s tune, with some rather, well, crude punning lyrics, taking a swipe at ‘harmonisation’, the PRC’s polite term for ‘censorship’.
If you haven’t seen it before, it’s here. As I’ve said, it’s a bit rude.
Anway, today it emerges that China has blocked YouTube, with the state news agency citing ‘faked videos’ of police beating Tibetans in Lhasa last year.
Could the grass-mud horse have got the whole of YouTube shut down in China? And is the Tibet story made up, because to admit censoring a popular anti-censorship video would be, well, to admit that ‘harmony’ is a little more sinister than it sounds?
25 Mar 2009 | News and features
Google said that its YouTube video-sharing website had been blocked in China.
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20 Jan 2009 | Uncategorized
Rebecca MacKinnon knows more than practically anyone other westerner about free expression in China. Over at her blog, rconversation, she has written a rather excellent and comprehensive (read ‘long’) analysis of Charter 08, the pro-reform manifesto recently issued by Chinese intellectuals and activists. It seems that many, while supportive of Charter 08’s aims, are unsure of how to attain them. Some see media freedom as key, says Rebecca:
Most people I’ve spoken with are not particularly optimistic that China will attain the goals outlined in Charter 08 any time soon, and some were skeptical that China ever will. Many felt that the first step is to build platforms that enable the Chinese people to engage in an informed discourse about their future so that concrete solutions and strategies for getting from A to B – or perhaps to some other Point C – can eventually emerge. The Internet is already facilitating a great deal of discourse, despite all the censorship, propaganda, nationalism, manipulation, and cyber-mob behavior. A more constructive discourse would be possible, many argue, if a law could be passed upholding the right of journalists to do their jobs. Thus some people are focusing on building professionalism and improving the quality of Chinese journalism, and trying to push for more media freedoms.
Read it all here
Read Rebecca Mackinnon’s article for Index on Censorship on China’s Internet pioneers here (pdf)
14 Jan 2009 | News and features
In an open letter posted on Chinese-language website Boxun.com, a group of more than 20 Chinese lawyers, writers, and intellectuals accuse state television CCTV of misleading its audience with propaganda and call for viewers to boycott its programmes.
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