China and the freedom of information

Tibet has been shut off from the rest of the world for about a month now. Even Tibetan language websites and blogs have been shut down "for maintenance". So the rest of the world is essentially dependent on Chinese state run news agencies such as Xinhua and People's Daily for news. The government can churn whatever information they want as "factual news" now. Independent (and all foreign) journalists have no access to Tibet. Interestingly, Chinese state media has reported several stories linking Tibetans and bombs in the last two weeks. Although these reports haven't produced any evidence or photographs, foreign media is quick to put their own spin to the stories.

How about environmental news from the rest of China? Surely, there is more freedom there. However, censorship is also widespread. Here is an interesting story from China Digital Times:


Guangdong Nansha integrated oil refinery and petrochemical project is a major inititiative, involving Kuwait National Oil Company and Guangdong Province. The project�s potential impact on the environment became a concern of not only the residents of Guangzhou, but also neighboring Hong Kong. On March 4, 2009, Hong Kong legislator Yu Ruohui raised this question, and the Director of the Environmental Protection Department in Hong Kong replied, saying, �As far as we understand, the impact assessment of the proposed project has yet to be approved.�

However, in the last few days, an internal notice from Internet supervision departments was sent to all major Chinese news websites, translated by CDT�s Japhet Weeks.

�Environmental impact report for the Guangdong Nansha integrated oil refinery and petrochemical project�: All internet sites are prohibited from reproducing, commenting on, or discussing anything relating to the content of this report. Nor should it be discussed on blogs. Furthermore, blogs should set up keyword filtering to make sure the topic isn�t discussed. All websites are requested to strictly implement these rules.

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