MCLC: NYT takes on China's censors

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Anne Henochowicz <annemh at alumni.upenn.edu>
Subject: NYT takes on China's censors
***********************************************************

Source: Committee to Protect Journalists (7/2/12):
http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/07/the-new-york-times-takes-on-chinas-censors.
php 

The New York Times takes on China's censors
By Madeline Earp/CPJ Senior Asia Research Associate

Well, that didn't take long. Just days after The New York Times' soft
launch of its Chinese-language edition and accompanying microblog
accounts, Berkeley-based China Digital Times
<http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2012/06/no-weibo-new-york-times/> website
reports that the @nytchinese <http://www.weibo.com/nytchinese> Sina Weibo
feed is no longer accessible in China, along with two accounts hosted by
Netease <http://t.163.com/nytchinese> and Sohu
<http://nytchinese.t.sohu.com/>. We couldn't pull them up this morning
from New York, either.

The timing is discouraging. With the Chinese edition barely off the
ground, there has been no contentious content for censors to block (such
as Bloomberg's revelations
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/xi-jinpings-millionaire-relations-r
eveal-elite-chinese-fortunes/2012/06/29/gJQAcE49AW_story.html> last week
about Vice President Xi Jinping and his extended family's massive assets,
which were widely censored). Instead, the shutdown is apparently a
reaction to the Times' intentions.

Announcing the site, the news outlet was clear that it would not pander to
censors. "China operates a very vigorous firewall. We have no control over
that. We hope and expect that Chinese officials will welcome what we're
doing," Foreign Editor Joseph Kahn said in a blog
<http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/the-times-is-introducing-
a-chinese-language-news-site/> post about the new operation. That
mildly-expressed mission is seemingly enough justification for Sina and
others to disable the account.

"We are seeking to clarify the situation with those accounts," Craig
Smith, the paper's China managing director, told The Associated Press
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/after-new-york-times-launches-chine
se-website-its-twitter-like-chinese-microblogs-go-offline/2012/06/28/gJQAy8
1Y8V_story.html>.
Whether microblog managers took this step out of caution (they are held
responsible 
<http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/05/chinese-microblog-regulates-suspends-users
--again.php> for banned content posted by users) or on orders from above
is unclear, as is how long the disruption will last. The Financial Times
<http://www.ftchinese.com/> and the Wall Street Journal
<http://cn.wsj.com/gb/> operate flourishing Chinese websites, with
corresponding Weibo accounts.

It's always interesting to watch Weibo experiments to learn what triggers
the censors. Nicolas Kristof tried it in his Times column last year
<http://www.cpj.org/blog/2011/01/in-china-kristofs-blogs-are-shut-down.php>
, and CPJ just published an analysis
<http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/06/what-chinas-weibo-censorship-does-and-does
-not-rev.php>of recent academic studies on the topic. But there's another
reason to follow the Times' progress.

Both the Journal and the Financial Times Chinese sites, like their English
counterparts, cover a broad range of issues, but cater to a business
readership. The lead story on theJournal's Chinese site, at time of
writing, was China's stockpile of rare-earth minerals, while the Financial
Times led with economic stimulus measures.

Since Chinese business interests are so often connected with political
power, business news is sensitive and prone to censorship, yet also
protected by a corporate community that needs financial information for
commercial success. Bloomberg's report was a case in point: For
highlighting Xi Jinping's wealthy associates it was censored
<http://www.cpj.org/2012/06/china-blocks-bloomberg-for-political-report.php
>for the average Web reader, yet Bloomberg's Professional service, which
>provides real-time news and stock quotes, remained accessible. The risk
>of offending investors who rely on that service outweighed the risk they
>would protest against Xi's family allegedly exploiting political ties for
>advantages in business.
Some commentators believe overseas news outlets must emphasize these
commercial benefits while tempering sensitive content in order to reach
their audience. TheJournal declined to comment on a story last week that
alleged it censors content in China, according to the Foreign Policy
magazine website 
<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/28/the_old_grey_lady_in_red_
china>. The same article said theFinancial Times is more likely to publish
political stories, but at the expense of its domestic readership when the
articles are locally blocked.

Will the Chinese New York Times compromise its content, or its reach? With
top stories today on the closure of the iPad trademark dispute, and on
Malaysian smog that recalls China's recent spat
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/05/uk-china-environment-idUSLNE8540
0D20120605> with the U.S. embassy in Beijing over air pollution ratings,
it's hard to say. But a number of people will be watching to see--the
censors included.