Fei Chang Dao

On April 21, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled “ Press Freedom Index Hides Absurd Logic .” Some excerpts: Journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RWB) released its World Press Freedom Index Wednesday, ranking China fifth from bottom, and Vietnam just one place higher. The group, while criticizing Asian countries, including South Korea and Japan for deteriorating press freedom, has mainly pointed the finger at China. . . . . The constructiveness of journalism is more important than press freedom to developing countries. This constructiveness includes press freedom and supervision of the media, however it must incorporate understanding of different local political and economic development. The purpose of journalism is not to advocate its absolute freedom, but to help advance societal progress in a suitable way. This theory, seemingly going against press freedom, could easily be misunderstood, but it has been repeatedly proved in th

On March 11, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled “ Western Speech Freedom not Fit for China .” Some excerpts: China is different. It is a communist country and this status quo, as a fundamental political norm, is written into its Constitution. Any denial of this norm is illegal and should be opposed. Some people argue that it is acceptable in the Western world that people can launch verbal attacks on their government and even their presidents, so why is this not allowed in China? The argument seems ostensibly reasonable, but the same activities are usually regarded differently in two divergent political and legal systems. . . . . [R]egrettably, some influential activists in public opinion abuse their freedom and propagate some subversive and destructive ideas, which have damaged the country's unity and caused some instability within the society. Measures to address these problems are inevitable. . . . . Some argue that it is a test of the a

On April 12, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “ Former CCTV Star Anchor Rui Chenggang’s Graft Case to be Heard .” Some excerpts: Rui, a popular host of financial and news programs on CCTV, was taken away by prosecutors on July 11, 2014 together with Li Yong, deputy director of the business channel and another unnamed producer, following the detention of Guo Zhenxi, director of CCTV's business channel, for allegedly receiving bribes in June 2014. At least 10 CCTV employees were reportedly involved in corruption that year. Investigations into CCTV corruption cases allegedly often involved movie stars whom police sought to assist in the investigation, said the newspaper, which has removed the article from its website as of press time. These screenshots show that two days after the publication of the Global Times’ article, both Sina and Baidu began censoring search results for “Rui Chenggang” (芮成钢).

Between April 5 and April 8, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published at least four articles about the Panama Papers: April 5: Zuma's nephew denies having offshore account April 5: Credit Suisse, HSBC dismiss claims of tax avoidance contained in ‘Panama Papers’Icelandic PM resigns over Panama Papers April 6: Icelandic PM resigns over Panama Papers April 7: Cameron rejects offshore funds April 8: Putin defends friend’s integrity None of the articles mentioned China. These screenshots show that on April 7, Sina Weibo began censoring the term “Panama” in Chinese.   Sina Weibo had already been censoring search results for “Panama” in English since at least April 5. See: State Media Reports on " Panama Papers," Baidu and Sina Weibo Censor "Panama Papers"

On April 5, 2016, the state sponsored Shanghai Daily published an article entitled “Papers Reveal ‘Never-Before-Seen View Inside the Offshore World’.” Some excerpts: The release of a vast trove of documents and data on offshore financial dealings of wealthy, famous and powerful people around the world is raising questions over the widespread use of such tactics to avoid taxes and skirt financial oversight. Reports by an international coalition of media outlets on an investigation with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) brought to light details of offshore assets and services of politicians, businesses and celebrities, based on a cache of 11.5 million records. Among the countries with past or present political figures named in the reports are Iceland, Ukraine, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Argentina. . . . . While the “Panama Papers” detail complex financial arrangements that benefit the world’s elite, they do not necessarily mean t