China Takes Censorship Gold in Record Time
A few short strokes after winning the bid for the 2008 Olympics (amid much ballyhoo on China’s human rights record), Beijing has just instituted tight new rules for Chinese newspapers and magazines.
Of course, considering the utter corruption that pervades them from top to bottom, the Olympic Games are hardly a bellweather for democracy and all that is good, clean Western fun, and in that sense, the decision to award them to China was No Big Deal in my opinion. But for those who claimed that the Olympics would actually foster a new era of enlightenment and appreciation for human rights in the land of the tiger, it’s time for a cool splash of reality.
For the record, “[The rules] defined seven types of banned reporting, ranging from revealing state secrets and damaging the national interest to contradicting Marxism-Leninism and promoting violence, depravity or superstition.”
Superstition, eh? So are we to assume that Chinese athletes are immune to good luck charms? Or just that the media aren’t allowed to report them?
Previously: Fake Plastic Tickets
Subsequently: Mile-End
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