Freedom of Press: January 2009 Archives

By Michael Bristow | BBC World News
January 21, 2009

China has censored parts of the new US president's inauguration speech that have appeared on a number of websites.

Live footage of the event on state television also cut away from Barack Obama when communism was mentioned.

China's leaders appear to have been upset by references to facing down communism and silencing dissent.

English-language versions of the speech have been allowed on the internet, but many of the Chinese translations have omitted sensitive sections.

Selective editing

China keeps a firm grip on the country's media outlets and censors their news reports as a matter of routine.

Like the rest of the world, it has been keenly following developments in the United States; President Obama's inauguration was front page news.

But the authorities seem not to want ordinary Chinese people to read the full, unexpurgated version of the president's speech.

In his inauguration address, President Obama said: "Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions."

That entire passage was retained for an English-language version of the speech that appeared on the website of state-run Xinhua news agency.

But in the Chinese-language version, the word "communism" was taken out.

President Obama's comments addressed to world leaders who "blame their society's ills on the West" also fell foul of the censor's red pen.

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history," the president said.

Once again, Xinhua included the passage in full in its English version, but the sentence was taken out of the Chinese translation.

Similar changes were made to versions of the speech that appeared on other websites based in China.

And websites were not the only media organisations that struggled to report some of the comments made by President Obama.

China Central Television, the country's main broadcaster, aired the speech live with a simultaneous Chinese translation.

But when the translator got to the part where President Obama talked about facing down communism, her voice suddenly faded away.

The programme suddenly cut back to the studio, where an off-guard presenter had to quickly ask a guest a question.

Censoring sensitive news reports is nothing new in China, where officials go to great lengths to cut critical material.

These officials appear a little nervous about the arrival of a new US President, who might not be as friendly to China as President George W. Bush.

As an editorial in the state-run China Daily put it: "Given the popular American eagerness for a break from the Bush years, many wonder, or worry to be precise, whether the new president would ignore the hard-earned progress in bilateral ties."

>> Original source

By Edward Wong | THE NEW YORK TIMES
January 16, 2009

A legal advocate who was arrested after applying to hold a protest in Beijing during the Olympic Games in August has been sentenced to three years in prison, said a lawyer who has been asked to represent the man in the appeals process.

The advocate, Ji Sizun, 58, was sentenced on Jan. 7 by a judge in the city of Fuzhou for forging official seals and documents, the lawyer, Lin Kaihua, said Thursday.

Mr. Ji was one of many victims of a tactic employed by the central government during the Beijing Olympics that has angered human rights advocates and has raised questions about whether the International Olympic Committee should have put more pressure on the Chinese government to respect human rights and freedom of speech.

In the prelude to the Games, the government announced that it had designated three parks in Beijing as legal protest zones and that anyone could apply to hold protests in them. When people did apply, however, their requests were ignored or they were detained and arrested.

The government did not allow a single protest to be held in any of the parks. In the most infamous incident of would-be protesters being arrested, two women in their 70s were detained for applying to hold a protest over a land dispute. The women were sentenced to re-education through labor, a punishment handed down to dissidents without judicial review.

Mr. Ji, from the coastal province of Fujian, met with a similar fate. He arrived in Beijing planning to hold a protest against government corruption, an issue that angers many Chinese and that undermines the legitimacy of the government.

On Aug. 9, Mr. Ji went to the Deshengmenwai police station to apply for a permit to protest at the Purple Bamboo Park, one of the three designated protest areas. Mr. Ji had several reporters accompany him because he feared being arrested. He tried to submit his application but was questioned intensely by police officers. The reporters who accompanied him said they were harassed. Mr. Ji left the station that day, but returned two days later to check on the status of his application. The police arrested him then.

He was sentenced by the Taijiang District People's Court in Fuzhou. No one answered the telephone at the court when calls were made seeking comment on Thursday.

Mr. Lin, the lawyer, said that Mr. Ji had asked for his representation during the appeals process but had yet to raise the money to pay the legal fees.

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting.

>> Original source

By Agence France-Presse | THE NEW YORK TIMES
January 12, 2009

Amnesty International said Monday that its Web site had again been blocked in China and it urged the government to reopen access to it immediately. Roseann Rife, deputy director of the Asia-Pacific program of Amnesty, a London-based human rights group, expressed fear that the action indicated an expanded crackdown by the Chinese authorities, "particularly as 2009 will see a number of important commemorations." She was referring to the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing, the 30th anniversary of the Democracy Wall movement and the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation.

>> Original source

By REUTERS | The Epoch Times
January 02, 2009

BEIJING--A group of parents whose children fell ill from drinking tainted Chinese milk have been detained by police apparently trying to block them from holding a news conference, one of the fathers said on Friday.

At least six children have died from kidney stones and more than 290,000 made ill from the melamine-contaminated milk, battering already dented faith in China-made products and prompting massive recalls around the world.

Tian Wenhua, 66-year-old former general manager of the now bankrupt Sanlu Group, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of "producing and selling fake or substandard products". She is expected to be sentenced to life imprisonment, the Beijing News said.

One of the fathers, whose 13-month-old son suffers from severe kidney stones, said some parents, including himself, were taken to a labor camp on the outskirts of Beijing.

"We are under house arrest now, and they did not give us any reasons why they kept us here," the father told Reuters by phone.

Five parents had been detained, but the rest of the group held a news conference on Friday, calling attention to the plight of the children.

"The government said all the medical care is free, but when it comes to the local level, things change. I have already paid more than 50,000 yuan ($7,300) for the operation and cure," said the father, a migrant worker from Sichuan province.

Melamine, an industrial compound used in plastic and fertiliser, was added to milk to cheat protein tests.

Some 22 dairy firms, led by Sanlu, have apologised and asked forgiveness for the contamination.

"We are deeply sorry for the harm caused to the children and society," they said in a New Year text message to millions of phone subscribers.

"We sincerely apologise for that and we beg your forgiveness."

>> Original source