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CNN anchorAnderson Cooperset aside the final moments of Tuesday nights Anderson Cooper 360 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when Chinese soldiers brutally cracked down on pro-democracy protestors in Beijings city center. But that segment didnt air in China, as censors immediately cut CNNs live feed. In a dramatic moment, Cooper acknowledged the censorship on-air, even displaying the color bars that viewers inside China were seeing.

It comes as no surprise that seconds after we teased this story at the end of the last segment, Chinese censors took our signal off the air, Cooper said of the real-time censorship that occurred during the commercial break. The host then proceeded with his scripted introduction acknowledging the anniversary of whats known within China as the June 4th Incident. The picture-in-picture color bars first appeared at the 23-second mark and remained in place until the conclusion of the three-minute segment.

Cooper was later joined by CNNs senior international correspondent Will Ripley, who offered additional context about what happened in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, and how difficult the story was to report for international outlets. CNN had to hide its videotapes in the U.S. embassy before tourists smuggled them in a suitcase and flew them to Hong Kong, Ripley explained, noting that escape plan wouldnt be possible now that the territory is controlled by China. Its a very different situation today.

Cooper once again called attention to the color bars in the corner of the screen, saying: Were showing you the color bars that is happening in China right now. Were being censored these color bars went up and the signal is now being blocked.

Ripley noted that the censorship is part of Chinas approach to removing all mention of Tiananmen Square from the public record within its borders.As you see from the color bars, China has essentially tried to erase this momentthis date June 4, 1989from its history.

I have friends who grew up in China, who are highly educated people but they didnt even know about the Tiananmen Square massacre until they moved out of the country and learned about it on the free internet, Ripley continued. Chinas internet is heavily censored.

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Anderson Cooper Calls Out China's Censorship of Tiananmen Square Anniversary Coverage - Adweek