Title: Media Censorship in China | Council on Foreign Relations
Headings: Media Censorship in China
Media Censorship in China
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Summary
Introduction
Official Media Policy
How Free Is Chinese Media?
The Censorship Groups
Daily News Brief
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Exerting Control
“To the degree that China’s connection to the outside world matters, the digital links are deteriorating.”
Foreign Media
“Some people in China don’t look at freedom of speech as an abstract ideal, but more as a means to an end.”
U.S. Technology in China
U.S. Relations With China
Circumventing the Censors
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More than a dozen government bodies review and enforce laws related to information flow within, into, and out of China. The most powerful monitoring body is the Communist Party’s Central Propaganda Department (CPD), which coordinates with General Administration of Press and Publication and State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television to ensure content promotes party doctrine. Ng says that the various ministries once functioned as smaller fiefdoms of control, but have recently been more consolidated under the State Council Information Office, which has taken the lead on internet monitoring. Daily News Brief
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The Chinese government employs large numbers of people to monitor and censor China’s media. Experts refer to an October 2013 report in a state-run paper, the Beijing News, which said more than two million workers are responsible for reviewing internet posts using keyword searches and compiling reports for “decision makers.”