Title: Media Censorship in China | Council on Foreign Relations
Headings: Media Censorship in China
Media Censorship in China
Written By
Updated
Summary
Introduction
Official Media Policy
How Free Is Chinese Media?
The Censorship Groups
Daily News Brief
A summary of global news developments with CFR analysis delivered to your inbox each morning. Most weekdays.
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
Top Stories on CFR

Content: CFR Senior Fellow Elizabeth C. Economy says the Chinese government is in a state of “schizophrenia” about media policy as it “goes back and forth, testing the line, knowing they need press freedom and the information it provides, but worried about opening the door to the type of freedoms that could lead to the regime’s downfall.” More on: China
Censorship and Freedom of Expression
Digital Policy
Media
Xi Jinping
The government issued in May 2010 its first white paper on the internet that focused on the concept of “internet sovereignty,” requiring all internet users in China, including foreign organizations and individuals, to abide by Chinese laws and regulations. Chinese internet companies are now required to sign the “ Public Pledge on Self-Regulation and Professional Ethics for China Internet Industry,” which entails even stricter rules than those in the white paper, according to Jason Q. Ng, a specialist on Chinese media censorship and author of Blocked on Weibo. Since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power, censorship of all forms of media has tightened. In February 2016, Xi announced new media policy for party and state news outlines: “ All the work by the party’s media must reflect the party’s will, safeguard the party’s authority, and safeguard the party’s unity,” emphasizing that state media must align themselves with the “thought, politics, and actions” of the party leadership. A China Daily essay emphasized Xi’s policy, noting that “the nation’s media outlets are essential to political stability .” How Free Is Chinese Media? In 2016, Freedom House ranked China last for the second consecutive year out of sixty-five countries that represent 88 percent of the world’s internet users.