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- http://news.qq.com/a/20130108/001187.htm
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| Screenshot shows Sina Weibo censors searches for "Freedom of the Press" |
Some commentators believe that there can be no middle ground, its either you or me. Some go so far as to proclaim from on high that this is a struggle for the very life of freedom of the press. But these people have it all wrong - - China has always enjoyed freedom of the press, otherwise, how could "Southern Weekend" have come into being? Where did ten New Year's Greetings that everyone has so much praise for come from? If you say that the "Southern Weekend" has done a good job, then you're saying that China has ample freedom of the press.
. . . .
Everyone knows that Southern Weekend is part of the Southern Publishing Group, and that it is a sister publication of the Southern Daily. In other words, Southern Weekend is a part of the Chinese Communist Party's Guangdong Central Committee newspaper enterprise, and is a part of the Chinese Communist Party's Guangdong Central Committee Propaganda Department. In the course of carrying out the Party's propaganda work it is perfectly normal for internal differences of opinions, even arguments, contradictions, and disputes to occur. This has absolutely nothing to do with Constitutional governance or freedom of the press.
In socialist China, newspapers are tools of Party propaganda. The Party controls the media. This is an iron-clad principle that can be self-righteously shouted from the rooftops. A newspaper's utility lies in its ability to transmit the Party's guiding principles and to unite public opinion. Beyond that it can also drive out the bad and bring in the good, and deliver information from the people to the Party. Newspapers are the ears, eyes, and mouth of the Party, and so is the Southern Weekend - always has been, always will be.
. . . .
For the last 20 years, the Southern Weekend's every news article and editorial, every New Year's Greeting that everyone recalls as inspired, each and every one was spreading the Party's propaganda, was within the Party's fundamental policy framework, was a specific expression of the Party's propaganda goals, and was furthering the progressive development of the Party's enterprise. It must be understood that the Southern Weekend and the Party's propaganda enterprise are one-and-the-same, and are not isolated from one another, much less independent of one another. This is both an expression and proof of socialist freedom of the press.
一些围观者人为，矛盾双方水火不容，必须你死我活。甚至有人无限拔高，认为这是对至高无上的新闻自由的誓死争取。这种认识差矣－－中国向来新闻自由，否则，何来《南方周末》？何来众人击节赞叹的十数篇新年献词？如果说《南方周末》办得好，那就是中国新闻足够自由。
. . . .
众所周知，《南方周末》隶属于南方报业集团，《南方周末》就是《南方日报》的子报。再换句话说，《南方周末》是中共广东省委党报事业的一部分，是中共广东省委宣传工作的一部分。党的宣传工作在具体执行中，内部出现了意见不一致，甚至出现了争吵、矛盾和纠纷，都是再正常不过的事情。这与宪政、新闻自由等等，是八竿子也打不着的事情。
在社会主义中国，报纸是党的宣传工具。党管媒体，这是铁打的原则，可以理直气壮地告诉全世界。报纸的作用，就是传达党的方针政策，统一群众认识，此外还可激浊扬清、针砭时弊，给党传递来自基层的信息。报纸就是党的耳目喉舌，《南方周末》也是－－过去是，现在是，未来还是。
. . . .
二十多年以来，《南方周末》所刊登的新闻报道、评论，以及大家记忆犹新的精彩的历年新年献词，宣传的都是党的理念，都在党的大政方针的框架之内，都是党的宣传意图的具体体现，都推动了党的事业向前发展。必须了解，《南方周末》和党的宣传事业向来都是统一的，而不是孤立的，更不是对立的。这也是社会主义新闻自由的体现和明证。
