Chinese Censorship Story Of The Week A Hoax

from the western-perspectives dept

Tue, Mar 14th 2006 11:02am — Joseph Weisenthal

Recently, two Chinese bloggers found a clever way to capitalize on the recent firestorm about internet censorship there. They set up a hoax -- shutting down their sites and posting a message about being forced down by government censors. Only after the story spread (it was picked up by the BBC and even the cover of Newsweek Asia), did they reveal that the joke was on the international press for demonstrating what kinds of stories from China they want to report on. Any reporter or news agency can fall for a hoax, but censorship stories, and censorship stories relating to bloggers in particular (like the recent BoingBoing dustup), are hot right now. While it can be debated whether it's navel-gazing or not that the press (and in particular the online press) places such emphasis on online censorship, it shouldn't be ignored that there are regular violent crackdowns on other rights that warrant attention as well.

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Beck, 14 Mar 2006 @ 11:14am

Not Censored
Their message did not say that they were shut down by government censors. I think that was the point of their stunt, that the Western news organizations would report that censorship was involved because news media like to report on stories of Chinese crackdowns.
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pablof, 14 Mar 2006 @ 12:19pm

of course
Yeah, silly reporters, everyone knows the Chinese government believes in an open society.

That was a giant leap to go from reality to Chinese government oppression.

I mean really, is there a more benevolent government than the Chinese?

Oh yeah, Iran.
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whargoul, 14 Mar 2006 @ 1:42pm

What big news story?
This was a big news story? Honestly...the first I heard of them reporting on this blog site going down was today when they were reporting that it was a hoax.

Maybe I've just been hiding under a rock this week.
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2006 @ 3:03pm
  
  Re: What big news story?
  Nah, then you would have gotten hourly updates.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2006 @ 5:07pm

I love Chinese food, thank someones-god it's back!
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giafly, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:23am

Shame on you, BBC
As I write, the BBCstill seems to be hosting the original story without any correction, or link to any correction.

This matters because the BBC still has a reputation for reasonably accurate reporting. It's not yet another Faux News.

As for the "What big news story?" comments. You have a point. Unfortunately the proportion of overseas news reports seems to be falling in all countries, and much of the rest is political spin, or "if it bleeds it leads" photo journalism.

Here's a current extract from the BBC page...

"China shuts down outspoken blog

One of China's most outspoken and widely read blogs has been closed down by the authorities.
...
A note on his site reads simply but pointedly: "Because of unavoidable reasons, this blog is now temporarily closed."

The authorities exert even tighter control than usual on how Chinese citizens express themselves during the parliament's session, particularly on the blogs that many of the country's more than 100 million internet users have set up."
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Jon Boczkiewicz, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:22pm

Ass U Me
So even in reporting that it's a hoax Techdirt made the same jump that "unavoidable circumstances" = "government"? I agree, the Chinese gov't's record makes this an easy jump, but that's no excuse.

And the next time it happens, and it IS gov't influence, there will be some hesitation--is it really true, or just someone crying "Wolf!". There are things that shouldn't be made into a joke, no matter how funny.
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