MCLC: propaganda war

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: ALVARO Joseph <joseph.alvaro at my.cityu.edu.hk>
Subject: propaganda war
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I am surely not the only one sending this front page article to MCLC -- a
must-read for anyone interested in current affairs in China.

Joseph James Alvaro
Hong Kong

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Source: SCMP (9/4/13):
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1302857/president-xi-jinping-rallies
-party-propaganda-war-internet

Xi Jinping rallies party for propaganda war on internet
President's battle cry against 'rumour-mongers' in speech last month is
revealed, with call for a 'strong army to seize ground of new media'
By Cary Huang and Keith Zhai


President Xi Jinping has issued a call to arms against the country's
unruly internet, ordering the Communist Party's propaganda machine to
build "a strong army" to "seize the ground of new media".

Xi's remarks, made during a national meeting of propaganda chiefs in
Beijing last month, came just as the central government was stepping up
its campaign against internet "rumours" and reining in influential online
celebrities who can command millions of followers.

The August 19 speech was reported the next day by the state agency Xinhua,
but it is only in recent days that some of Xi's more combative remarks
have come to light.

The comments were confirmed by senior media sources who were summoned to
internal briefings on the keynote speech in the past week.

"The wording of his speech relayed in internal briefings is far stronger,"
said a source. "The most impressive [point] is that Xi said the Communist
Party should be combative, instead of being passive, and it should wage a
war to win over public opinion. Xi also ordered the propaganda apparatus
to form a strong internet army to seize the ground of new media," he said.

The speech laid the ground for recent events that shook the new-media
world.

On August 20, Beijing police detained several people connected with
Beijing Erma Interactive Marketing and Planning, including internet
celebrity Qin Huohuo , on suspicion of rumour-mongering.

On August 23, Chinese-American businessman Charles Xue Biqun , better
known to his 12 million Sina Weibo followers as Xue Manzi , was detained
on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes.

For the past two weeks, state media have rolled out one commentary after
another warning "big V" internet celebrities - people whose identities
have been verified by social media companies - not to misuse their
influence by spreading rumours. Media sources said Xi's August 19 speech
ordered officials to "unite all intellectuals". The remark was interpreted
as meaning mustering as many intellectuals as possible to back the party's
agenda.

"It is a continuation of the style during the Maoist era to set
intellectuals apart from the public," one senior state television
journalist said. Another media source said Xi also highlighted the ban on
the media spreading the "universal values of the West", because there are
"no such things as universal values".

Mainland universities have been banned from teaching "universal values",
such as press freedom and civil rights, since March.

Xi also called for the revival of an "ideological purification" campaign
initiated by late leader Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s by upholding
"four cardinal principles", said a website of the publicity department of
the party's Central Committee.

The principles call for the upholding of the people's democratic
dictatorship, the socialist path, the party leadership and
Marxism-Leninism and "Mao Zedong thought".

"It shows the controls will get stricter and the room for media will
dwindle further," the second media source said.