5 May 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
On 3 May the central propaganda department issued new media guidelines designed to downplay coverage of the Qinghai earthquake and recent school attacks in order to promote the Shanghai Expo. After four violent attacks on schoolchildren in a month, reports of the incidents began to be withdrawn. The guidelines also specify that reports on the expo use only official state-endorsed Xinhua sources. Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily has confirmed it was denied accreditation to cover the Expo, and the home of activist Feng Zhenghu was raided on 19 April, after he attempted to launch his own online expo of judicial injustice.
5 May 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
The dissident human rights lawyer — missing for over a year until he resurfaced last month — has been reported missing again by his family. In early April, Gao gave a series of interviews to the western media publicly renouncing activism. He boarded the Beijing-bound flight from Urumqi on 20 April but his whereabouts are now unknown. Critics speculate that his reappearance was “a ploy to try to demonstrate to the outside world that he had not been mistreated”.
28 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
An amendment to laws on guarding state secrets could force communication providers to cooperate with the country’s security apparatus over the leaking or distribution of state secrets. Telecom operators and internet service providers will have to ‘detect, report and delete’ information about such secrets. This could force providers to copy the example of Yahoo. The company famously supplied the Chinese government with the private details of journalist Shi Tao after he leaked sensitive documents in 2007. Tao was arrested.
26 Apr 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized
Tibetan writer Zhogs Dung was arrested by Chinese police on Friday report Tibetan sources. Although officials have declined to comment on his detainment, it is assumed that his arrest was related to open letter he signed with other Tibetan intellectuals criticising the government’s relief effort after the Qinghai earthquake. The letter first published on the Tibetan website www.sangdhor.com (temporarily defunct) states that “news from the mouthpiece for the party organisations can not be believed” and also reminds people to not send donations directly to government organisations due to corruption. The Oslo-based Voice of Tibet radio station reports that its transmissions in China have been jammed for two days, despite the fact that the majority of its broadcasts have been messages of condolence from exiled Tibetans.
