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censorship and gaming.
kotaku.com http://www.igda.org kotaku.com this is wasteful and absurd.

By: Octaviou Rex

Originally posted here:
censorship and gaming. - Video

The Constitution #39;s Article 35 and Censorship
Follow us on TWITTER: twitter.com Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com At the beginning of this year, the hottest topic was the New Year #39;s special edition of the Southern Weekly, which was tampered with by a Guangdong Propaganda Department official. After the intervention with the Guangdong Provincial Party Secretary, Hu Chunhua, the incident has temporarily come to an end. However, the British Financial Times said, "Article 35 of China #39;s Constitution is to protect the freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Thus, conflicts from the Southern Weekly incident look ridiculous and laughable. Article 35 of the Constitution stipulates, "Citizens of the People #39;s Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, press, association, procession and demonstration." However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) never implemented article 35,and even the phrase, "freedom of speech" is shielded. The Financial Times published an article in January entitled, "From the Southern Weekly incident China #39;s ridiculous censorship can be seen." The article says the CCP keeps article 35 in the Constitution, but it uses censorship to remind the public that the Party media is unshakable. This sounds indeed ridiculous. The article also quoted Marx as saying capitalist society will eventually collapse due to the weight of its contradictions. Let #39;s hope the censorship in China will collapse due to the weight of its contradictions. The CCP Guangdong Provincial Party Secretary, Hu Chunhua, reached an ...

By: ChinaForbiddenNews

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The Constitution's Article 35 and Censorship - Video

As the proverbial smoke clears from the battlefield where journalists from the feisty Southern Weekend newspaper fought government censors this week, the reporters victory seems to have yielded only meager gains.

Staffers at the weekly, based in the southern city of Guangzhou, won a pledge that their paper will no longer be subjected to prior censorship, according to sources close to negotiations. Instead, the authorities will rely on reporters and editors to censor themselves, as they had traditionally done.

This was not an ambitious aim, says Yan Lieshan, Southern Weekends associate chief editor until he retired a year ago. It was the most limited, most practical goal.

Still, the journalistic rebellion, which involved strike threats, represents progress, because the staff did stand up and fight against censorship, says Mr. Yan in a telephone interview.

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I dont think censorship will disappear or become less important in [the governments] management of the media, adds Gong Wenxiang, professor of Journalism at Peking University. But the openness of this conflict was new and significant.

Staff at Southern Weekend, an independent-minded weekly that in the past has been more critical of the government than most Chinese media, erupted when they found that a New Years editorial in last weeks edition, hoping for firmer rule of law in China, had been mangled on the censors orders, and its meaning traduced. Some threatened to strike.

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The dispute spread rapidly, even as the authorities sought to keep a lid on it. Supporters of the paper gathered to demonstrate outside its Guangzhou editorial offices, celebrities and other newspapers expressed their sympathy with the weekly, and the state-run tabloid Global Times drew widespread scorn on blogging platforms for an editorial blaming foreign forces for stirring unrest at Southern Weekend.

The Central Propaganda Department, the branch of the ruling Communist Party that controls the Chinese media, demanded that the countrys largest and most important newspapers and websites reprint the Global Times editorial. Most did, though they added their own disclaimers; one Beijing paper refused to print the article, but its editors finally bowed to government pressure a day later.

Read the rest here:
Chinese reporters say censorship leaves them 'dancing in handcuffs'

Published: Jan. 10, 2013 at 1:42 AM

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The events set off by the anti-censorship protest by the staff of a Chinese newspaper may force China's new leaders toward political reforms, says an expert.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Minxin Pei, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a non-resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said Chinese Communist Party authorities seem to have temporarily defused the mini-crisis brought on by the protest against the "ham-fisted censorship" at the Southern Weekly in Guangdong province.

Under a deal reached Wednesday to settle the censorship protest, whose details were not disclosed, authorities reportedly had allowed the highly popular Southern Weekend (also called Southern Weekly) to publish Thursday.

In return, journalists at the newspaper may have agreed not to publicly air their grievances about Tuo Zhen, propaganda head for Guangdong province, who had been accused of censorship. The journalists had threatened to strike over a New Year's editorial on political reform that was allegedly censored and rewritten by a local propaganda official.

The incident comes as the Chinese Communist party made its leadership transition at its congress last November, with the reform-minded Xi Jinping taking the helm, along with the six members of the powerful Politburo Standing committee.

Professor Pei wrote provincial party official have promised to relax some of the recently imposed censorship measures such as prior approval of reporting topics and examination of copy before publication and in return, the journalists would end their walkout.

"On the surface, this outcome may not seem worth celebrating," Pei wrote. "After all, the party did not meet a key demand of the protesting newspapermen: sacking the local propaganda chief who had allegedly eviscerated the newspaper's New Year editorial calling for constitutional rule in China."

Pei also warned local officials, despite the deal, may likely retaliate against the newspaper's editorial once the incident loses media spotlight.

"Nevertheless, the protest over censorship at Southern Weekly and the Party's modest concessions constitute an important development" since Xi became the new leader.

Originally posted here:
Censorship incident tests leadership

China's new Communist Party leaders want to appear more open, but they're not about to give up control of the media. That's the lesson of a dustup involving an influential newspaper whose staff briefly rebelled against especially heavy-handed censorship.

The staff of Southern Weekly returned to work after some controls were relaxed, but public demands for the ouster of the top censor were ignored. Some observers took solace in the fact that no journalists were punished at least not yet.

"The fact that no one is being immediately punished is a victory. That is not insignificant," said Steve Tsang, a China politics expert at the University of Nottingham in Britain. "It's a smart use of the party's power but it's not actually making any compromise in terms of the basic fundamental principles of the party staying fully in control on anything that really matters."

China's new leader, Xi Jinping, has raised reformist hopes and struck an especially populist note in vowing to tackle official corruption. In an early December speech he praised China's constitution and said people's rights must be respected, comments that helped set the stage for the censorship clash.

The constitution grants Chinese many rights, including freedom of speech and of the press, but it is often ignored. Many in China interpret the constitution as limiting the power of the ruling Communist Party.

AP

"No organization or individual has the special right to overstep the constitution and law, and any violation of the constitution and the law must be investigated," Xi said. Many media commentators viewed his remarks as an opportunity to push for the rule of law the party has long promised but failed to deliver.

The staff at the Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou a southern city known for freewheeling commerce, political boldness and year-round flowers joined the fray with a New Year's editorial extolling adherence to the constitution as the new Chinese dream.

Journalists say the provincial censor morphed the item into a piece praising the party and did so without running it by the editorial department. That violated an unwritten rule in the way censorship normally is carried out.

For three days, hundreds of supporters gathered in front of the newspaper offices on sidewalks scented with osthmanthus blossoms to shout for greater press freedom and wave banners. One man wrapped himself in newspaper to show his solidarity. But the dispute also drew political conservatives who called the newspaper's journalists "traitors" and "running dogs."

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Censorship Row Shows China's Tight Grip on Media