The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.”
State Council Information Office: Regarding the explosion in Lingchuan County, Guilin, Guangxi: do not use non-standard news sources, do not link to reports about related violence, and do not use gory images of the incident. (September 10, 2013)
国新办：关于广西桂林灵川县爆炸事件，不得采用非正规新闻来源，不得链接相关暴力事件新闻，不得使用血腥现场图片。
Guangdong Party Committee Propaganda Department: In covering the storehouse explosion in Ezhangtan, Baiyun District, Guangzhou and its aftermath, please report according to the authoritative information issued by the government. Do not play up or exaggerate the incident. (September 10, 2013)
广东省委宣传部：广东省广州白云区鹅掌坦仓库爆炸事件及相关后续问题的报道，请按政府发布的权威信息报道，不炒作渲染。
This morning’s explosion in Guangzhou, which appears to have been an accident, has so far claimed four lives. Beijing Cream summarizes reports from Xinhua, The Nanfang, and Weibo.
CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.
