Party’s Media Control Capability “Weakening”

“The party’s capability to control us is weakening” (共产党控制我们的能力越来越弱), the BBC’s Mandarin website quotes a state media editor, based on an article by the Financial Times.

There had been consequences for a number of news people, when the party tried to regain control over coverage on the Wenzhou bullet train crash, the article says. Wang Qinglei (王青雷), a CCTV reporter, had been suspended from work after doubting China’s development pattern and praising those who challenged media censorship in a CCTV program. But even before the Wenzhou crash had drawn attention to censorship and the challenges it faced, the media had been in the process of becoming a force for change.

The FT report quotes Guangzhou Zhongshan University journalism professor Zhang Zhi’an (张志安) with an estimate that there were currently some 500 investigative journalists (调查记者) in China. Many students wanted to take the same path, Zhang said.

The article also points out the role of social media (社交媒体). Sina Weibo alone, a microblogging platform similar to Twitter,  had some 140 million users, and news the authorities wanted to hide spreaded quickly all the same. Reporters and editors who had been harmonized, i. e. muzzled, used Sina Weibo to speak out. A generational change was also a factor, as both in the traditional and online media industries, twenty- to thirty-year-old news people were now reaching relatively senior positions.

In total, the Financial Times quoted two professional news persons, and two journalism professors. This blogger believes that the quotes – and the FT article as a whole – express wishful thinking to quite an extent, but that to an extent hard to quantify, the policies which demand censorship seem to have faced a deteriorating environment after the Wenzhou accident. Some Chinese nationals who used to be be either cynical about or disinterested in politics have been unusually angry about the censorship measures taken on July 29 this year.

Reportedly, there had been censorship notifications from the propaganda department to journalists soon after the Wenzhou accident, too, but the one of July 29 was apparently final.

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Related

» Wenzhou, Public Reactions & Social Management, July 30, 2011
» Huanqiu: Netizens should tolerate Censorship, March 26, 2011
» This is Radio Beijing, YouTube, recording of June 3, 1989

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Ways of Saying “I don’t Believe in Society”

The Lot Sproadically about the London riots:

Because I can

I am frustrated by this trend of commentators imprinting their own political philosophies on a situation that does not neatly fit any philosophy or motivation.

[...]

You could boil down reactions to the question “Why did you riot?” to: I don’t believe in society: I don’t believe in consequences; I don’t believe I can succeed; I don’t believe in authority; I don’t believe I will ever afford these trainers; I don’t believe you will ever help me; I don’t believe I can be stopped; I don’t believe I am treated fairly; I don’t believe in money, etc.

All of these are a part of saying “I don’t believe in society”.

As this isn’t JR’s conversation, please comment there »
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Related
» “The King’s Speech”, March 9, 2011

Tsai Ing-wen’s Campaign Office hacked, Xinhua too Impartial to be the Source

Tsai Ing-wen‘s election campaign office suffered a hacking attack, Yahoo Taiwan   reported on Tuesday. Tsai is both the oppositional DPP’s chairperson, and its presidential nominee for Taiwan’s presidential and Legislative-Yuan elections scheduled in January.

According to an account of the Yahoo report in English by Echo Taiwan, the hacks came with a Trojan horse, aiming at info stealing, not at damaging data.

[Tsai's] office holds all the info regarding how the DPP had planned and is planning to campaign for the president and legislator elections early next year, including how to deploy the resources, who is gonna take charge of what, etc.

Reportedly, IP trackings suggest that the hacks originated from China’s Xinhua News Agency, individual hackers, and from some “special group” in Taiwan. Xinhua denies involvement.

“As a news service provider, we have an impartial and objective stance on the election of the Taiwan region, and we will never interfere in the matter”, China Daily quoted a Xinhua spokesman.

Incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou’s campaign office also confirmed having suffered recent hacking attacks, although it did not reveal details or whether any information was leaked,

reports AsiaOne.

As for the suspected identity of the hackers, the campaign office said time constraints prevented them from looking into the high number of hacking activities, and to chase after each case would be futile.

An AFP report tiptoes toward the cui-bono question: “Observers say China would prefer Ma to win instead of DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen”.

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Vocabulary

• Taiwan’s translation for hacker: 駭客 (hài kè) 駭 is an exclamation or sigh expressing shock; ke stands for “guest” (shocking guest).
• China’s translation for hacker: 黑客 (hēi kè) means “black guest”.

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Related

» Malware Networks, Cooperation Appreciated, April 6, 2010

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People’s Daily: a Microblog is no Tea House

As long as microblog users maintain a rational, objective and moderate position, and as long as microblog managers always maintain the principle of “good treatment, good use, good management”, microblogging can indeed play an active role in promoting social progress,

reads the first paragraph – and the conclusion – of a People’s Daily online (人民日报) article of Wednesday. It’s a signed article [Su Nan / 苏楠, news editor], and refers to an anti-rumor alliance (辟谣联盟), established at or by the microblogs ["microblog" mostly refers to Weibo, China's most popular platform - weibo in itself means microblog in English] less than three months ago.

The article criticizes “instant-food” (自带干粮, more literally, stuff like dried noodles) netizens who were “upholding a flag of serving truth” (“高举“为真相服务”的旗帜”).  People’s Daily seems to refer to a case where a photo, in June this year, had meant to prove that a prostitute or several prostitutes in Beijing were checked or arrested while naked. Efforts to clarify and to demonstrate that this was false information had been ridiculed (嘲讽) online.

This was a calamity the alliance hadn’t forseen, writes People’s Daily, and sees three questions arising:

1. Are microblogs media in a true sense, or street gossip? Can they be held accountable to media standards?

2. How to distinguish between hearsay, queries, and rumors? How to discern real queries from rumors?

3. Won’t unbalanced rumor prevention actually amplify the shortcomings within the ecology of microblogging? Won’t it influence the development of microblogging negatively?

Microblogs are no tea houses, warns People’s Daily – they carried media characteristics, serving 195 million users as a speaking platform, and serving as a news source for other media. The question about an ethical bottomline therefore needed to be addressed:

It’s not only media professionals who must act cautiously and conscientiously (审慎严谨) when using microblog information, but ordinary microbloggers, too, should assume responsibility for their words, honestly and in good faith (应该诚实守信，对自己的言论负责).

The article hopefully suggests that the sharp eyes of the masses (“群众的眼睛是雪亮的”, literally: eyes bright as snow) – such as the anti-rumor alliance – would help to promote rational and orderly expression and participation. However, rumor prevention itself was a term that chopped and changed (朝三暮四), and depending on how it was used, it could lead to even more rumors. The concept in itself required impartiality and objectivity.

Hudong Baike describes the anti-rumor alliance as an initiative for voluntary netizen self-discipline organization (网友自发的自律组织) by China University of Political Science and Law (中国政法大学) junior professor Wu Danhong (吴丹红), aka Wu Fatian (吴法天) and at least one media personality.

It is hard to see how a genuinely voluntary initiative of this kind should build in China. When an eery committee awarded a Confucius Prize to Taiwan’s former Taiwanese premier Lien Chan, it was emphasized that this was not an official prize (while the ministry of culture was nevertheless involved). Quite probably, much of the ridicule the anti-rumor alliance faced in June was owing to netizens’ suspicion that the alliance was about as “voluntary” or “spontaneous” as an unknown number of previous initiatives. Public faith in the integrity of such initiatives would require a genuine civil society, and even there, trust in such initiatives won’t go without saying. It is also hard to believe that People’s Daily’s fresh endorsement for the alliance, on Wednesday, wouldn’t have anything to do with censorship of the recent Wenzhou bullet train accident, which, according to Singapore’s Morning News, had led to a wide-spread sense of depression.

The People’s Daily article itself is aware that the cat frequently bites its own tail when it comes to censorship, or “rumor prevention”. That’s unfortunate because there are rumors in abundance, and many Chinese netizens are indeed grateful consumers and rebroadcasters of rumors.

But then, rumors thrive best in a secretive society, and anti-rumor alliances in China are bound to address the symptoms, rather than the causes.

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Related
» Ties that Bind, commenter at CMP, August 9, 2011
» Wen Jiabao’s Endgame, April 21, 2011
» Truthfulness is Everything, April 8, 2011
» Salt, Autobahn and Free Elections, March 19, 2011

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People’s Daily on U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan: Treasury Bonds as Weapons

The following is a signed editorial, written by Ding Gang (丁刚, a People’s Daily senior reporter (or editor, also known for columns at the English-language Global Times).

Published by People’s Daily online on August 4 (GMT). Links within the following blockquotes added during translation – JR.

Now is the time to give Washington a little beating with our financial weapons! We didn’t really want to turn America’s bonds into weapons, but Washington forces China to do so.
现在该是用中国的“金融武器”来敲打一下华盛顿的时候了！我们本不愿意把美国债券当成武器，是华盛顿在逼着中国这样做。

On August 1, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a motion concerning the debt problem, and its Taiwan group, on August 2, the Taiwan working group initiated a jointly-signed paper. 181 Representatives jointly sent a letter to Obama, demanding the federal government to approve the sales of F-16C/D fighter planes to Taiwan promptly, based on the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), “in order to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.
美国众议院1日刚刚通过债务问题议案，其台湾小组2日就发起连署。181名众议员联名致函奥巴马总统，要求联邦政府基于《与台湾关系法》的义务，尽速同意出售给台湾F-16C/D型战机，“以确保台海的和平与稳定”。

On that same August 2, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a motion concerning the debt problem, passed a motion to be put into immediate effect by the Obama administration, to enable the finance department to issue bonds for additional debts amounting to  400 billion US dollars. Should China be the biggest buyer again?
2日当天，美国参院也通过了债务问题议案，并送交奥巴马签署成为法律生效，美国财政部随即获得发行4000亿美元新债的授权。这一次，中国会不会又成为最大的买主呢？

U.S. Congress can’t be unaware of the fact that raising the debt ceiling and issuing bonds again depends on China and other “big capitalists” who would buy them. But at the same time, they don’t consider China’s core interests, and stir further arms sales to Taiwan, to add even more contempt and outrageous arrogance to an already extremely deplorable situation.
美国议员们不会不知道，提高债务上限，发行新债，还是要靠中国等“ ”来购买，但同时，他们又根本不把中国的核心利益放在心上，继续鼓动对台售武，甚至还要升级，其轻蔑与狂妄已到了无以复加的地步。

A Chinese reduction or halt in buying American bonds would make the bonds less valuable, and affect the value of the bonds China is holding. But as things have gone as far as they are now, I’m afraid we will lose more than just dollars if we let the Washington politicians continue their game.
中国停止或大规模减少购买美国国债，会让美国国债变得更不值钱，会影响中国手中已经持有的美国国债的价值。但是，当事情走到这一地步，如果一味地让华盛顿的政客们玩下去，我们损失的恐怕就不只是美元了。

The delivery of some new arms to Taiwan may spur American employment rates a bit, but there is no way that they will bring Taiwan’s military power up to the mainland’s [i. e. China - JR]. But the actual problem lies somewhere else. It is that some members of the Congress keep showing contempt for China’s core interests which shows that they absolutely have no intention to respect China. If we don’t give them a little beating, if we don’t make America feel the pain, Sino-American relations will be impeded by those few people, and the risks of “sitting on a roller coaster” remain inescapable.
美国卖给台湾几件新式武器，除了能拉动一下美国的就业，根本不可能把台湾的军力提升到足以与大陆抗衡的地步。但问题的实质不在这里，而在于美国国会一些议员对中国再三申明的核心利益的轻蔑，这显示出他们压根儿就没打算要尊重中国。如果我们不敲打一下，不让美国感觉到痛，中美关系就总会受到这些人的牵制，就摆脱不了坐“过山车”的风险。

A reduction or stop in buying American bonds will of course spell some losses for China. We must find ways to reduce such losses, and switch from our passive to an active role. Among the measures taken should be a direct relation between the purchases and American policies. For example, the amount to which we buy bonds should be in relation to what America sells to Taiwan. Another example: we should influence international rating agencies, demand a downgrade of American bonds, thus raising the interest rates. Also, we could introduce limited sanctions against the states where the agitating members of Congress come from, thus focusing on striking at their employment rates.
停止或大规模减少购买美国债券，当然会给中国带来一定损失。我们要想方设法减少损失，变被动为主动。在采取措施，逐步调整国家外汇储备结构的同时，还应当考虑怎样才能将购买美国债券直接与美国国内政治挂钩。比如，把购买债券的数额与美国对台售武直接联系在一起；又如，影响国际评级机构，要求对美国债券进行降级，迫使它提升利息；再如，可以对一些起劲鼓动的议员所在的州实行有限的贸易制裁，重点打击其就业。

China is reluctant to use the U.S. bonds it is holding as weapons, as it is the hard-earned money of the Chinese common people, which must be valued highly. But when China’s sovereignty and integrity is offended, we have no other way than turning them into weapons that defend us.
中国并不愿意把手中持有的美国债券当作武器去使用，那是中国老百姓辛辛苦苦赚来的血汗钱，我们必须百倍珍惜。但是，当中国的主权完整受到挑衅时，我们只有让它成为捍卫自己的武器。

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Related

» US gives Taiwan Assurances, Taipei Times, August 9, 2011
» Asia to keep buying US debt, AP, August 9, 2011
» The Costs of Running a Trade Surplus, August 7, 2011

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Easy Shortwave Listening in Northern Germany (July/August 2011)

The following are shortwave radio stations recorded during the past two weeks. Receiver: Grundig Satellit 300, a “toe in the water” at the time it was manufactured in the first half of the 1980s, with some eight meters of copper wire added as an antenna, to keep it portable. Mostly listened while at work outdoors, or at the desk. Some of the “P” ratings (within “SINPO”) could have been better if there hadn’t been an electric fence around.

To make the following table load accurately, you will probably need to click this blogpost’s headline to view it individually.

Frequency	Station	Location	Language	Date	Time (GMT)	S	I	N	P	O
15,522 kHz	Voice of Tibet »	TJK »	Mandarin	August 7, 2011	13:37 – 13:53	3	3	5	3	3
17,515 kHz	China National Radio	CHN »	Mandarin	August 7, 2011	13:00 – 13:30	5	5	5	4	4
17610 kHz1)	IRIB Tehran	IRN »	Mandarin	August 7, 2011	12:05 – 12:50	3	5	4	3	3
4,905 kHz	PBS Tibet	TIB »	English	August 5, 2011	22:30 – 23:00	4	5	4	4	4
17,670 kHz	Radio Romania Int’l	ROU »	English	July 30, 2011	11:32 – 11:50	5	5	5	4	4
21,630 kHz	IRIB Tehran	IRN »	English	July 30, 2011	11:03 – 11:25	4	5	4	3	3
15,270 kHz2)	Radio Cairo	EGY »	English	July 29, 2011	19:04 – 19:15	5	4	4	5	4

This isn't one of the smartest designs in my old QSL card collection, but no other card was as beautifully hand-written as this one.

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Notes

¹⁾ also on 17670, but with a much weaker signal there
²⁾ Egypt may be undergoing big political changes, but modulation has remained unrevolutionized so far and was as terrible as ever (if not worse).
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Net Nanny: International Partners for Better Global Social Management (GSM)

Net Nanny: vigilance at all times

The situation is worrying Us. The internet provides bad people with the opportunity to voice their wrong opinions without saying who they are. China’s position has always been consistent. Fortunately, We are not alone.

German home secretary Hans-Peter Friedrich must be praised for his correct views. He correctly said that bloggers and other authors must be obliged to publish online under their real names!

Why doesn’t Fjordman (the man who published anti-islamic stuff online and was quoted by a dandy mass murderer this summer) have to publish his unharmonious hate under his real name? Why, for that matter, doesn’t JR need to publish his unharmonious hate under his real name? Why can Chinese bad elements, at home and abroad, write under a pen name? More transparency on the internet would be much more convenient for social management!

Therefore, We hereby include Mr. Friedrich into our Recommended List of Role Models, a list which hitherto only included our collective leadership with Hu Jintao as the core, all previous collective and not-so-collective leaderships, Lei Feng, and Zhang Ziyi , and We propose, with this announcement, a Global Social Management (GSM) system to be discussed and prepared at all relevant international appointments, to make harmony spread in every country of the world.

We wish Mr. Zimmermann Friedrich^*) success, and looking forward to fruitful cooperation with Germany in all relevant international committees, and we encourage all vigilant politicians, from wherever they may be, to join us in the struggle. Together, we will stride from victory to victory in making the internet more harmonious!

Shikezhunbeizhe!

Net Nanny
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Related
» Wait for the Appointed Time, January 29, 2010

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Update/Correction
Friedrich Zimmermann was one of Hans-Peter Friedrich‘s predecessors as home minister, from 1982 – 1989. Just as the incumbent, Friedrich Zimmermann was a member of the Bavarian CSU party. For that (and maybe for some other reasons, too) I confused the two names. (Thanks for pointing to it, NWD.)

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Mass Work: PSB teams up with Weibo and People’s Daily

On Monday, a year after its establishment, the Weibo channel of Beijing Safe and Well (平安北京), aka “Safe Beijing”, officially registered with Peoples Daily‘s website. Weibo is China’s micro-blogging platform, similar to Twitter (which is banned in China), and Beijing Safe and Well is an initiative from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau (公安局, PSB).

I’m not sure what “registering with People’s Daily website” (落户人民网) means, but it seems to amount to People’s Daily republishing what the PSB posts on Weibo.

The initiative had been a certain public-relations success in establishing work with the masses (在公共关系建设和群众工作上取得了一定成效) as a carrier of information (资讯发布载体), a window of mass work (群众工作窗口), and a bridge for police-public communication (警民沟通桥梁), Beijing Police is quoted by People’s Daily. During its first year, they had posted more than 9,000 messages (more than 7,000 of them on Weibo), more than 2,000 blogposts, more than 200 videos, recorded some 26 million views and 1.5 million fans. There had been “successful handling of six suicide cases live on the internet etc.” (成功处置微博直播自杀等网络突发事件6件), and 170 other issues (or “situations”, 解决网友反映的突出情况).

The PSB are frequently referred to as “police”, but their work apparently goes far beyond handling situations as described by People’s Daily. When Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to eleven years in jail in December 2009, Teng Biao, another dissident, stated that a testimony he had previously made at the Beijing PSB had been used as evidence, even though he hadn’t been heard in court himself, and even though he hadn’t actually mentioned Liu Xiaobo in his testimony.

Allegedly, the PSB are also instrumental in spin-doctoring on the internet once sensitive situations arise locally.

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Related

» “How to speak in the Microblog Age”, CMP, August 2, 2011
Related Blogposts: “Social Management” (社会管理)

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Updates / Related

» 平安北京, Weibo (more frequently updated than on People’s Daily)

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