Guangzhou's Censored Announcement About Unfettered Journalism

"... Beijing will allow journalists..."

That was all I heard before the Pearl News update was preempted by a propaganda clip about thwarting thievery. In Guangzhou, censorship of controversial issues broadcast by Hong Kong news stations is commonplace. Sometimes an entire story is preempted by propaganda, sometimes only a sentence. Either way, like tonight's interruption, the censorship switch is often pulled part way through the first sentence, delayed just long enough to reveal what the controversial topic is. Tonight's topic was--ironically--Beijing's promise to loosen reporting restrictions for foreign journalists in China.

On October 17th, Chinese authorities kept their pledge to extend the temporary journalistic freedoms allowed during Beijing Olympics. Tini Tran, in this AP article, writes that foreign reporters are no longer "required to get government permission to travel within the country or to interview Chinese citizens." In the Wall Street Journal, Mei Fong writes, "critics note the liberalized rules don't apply to Chinese journalists who aren't allowed to work as journalists for foreign media organizations and whose work is liable to control by the state." Okay, so domestic media control remains unchanged. But why censor a report about loosened restrictions for foreigners?

China is opening up. Yet while you can flip a switch to censor, you can't (and perhaps shouldn't) flip a switch to open up completely overnight. It might be a controlled opening up, but an opening up nonetheless. As Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Liu Jianchao said, "[this is] a big step for China."

Perhaps that's why I took particular pleasure in typing "China journalism freedom" as bookmark tags on my delicious.com account.