On Tuesday, the paper’s editorial committee was to hold a fourth round of negotiations with its top management, which is part of the provincial propaganda office, according to a Southern Weekly editor. The editor spoke on condition of anonymity because of an internal directive not to talk to the foreign media.

Propaganda officials want the newspaper to publish — as per normal — on Thursday but editors are negotiating over whether to do so, and the terms under which they would be willing, for example, if they could include a letter to readers explaining the incident, the editor said.

The committee is also pushing a larger appeal to abolish censorship of the newspaper’s content prior to publication, the editor said. The suggestion is that Communist Party leaders could provide direction but not interfere with reporting and editing, and should refrain from taking issue with content until after publication, the editor said.

Meanwhile, protests continued outside Southern Weekly’s headquarters, with the newspaper’s supporters facing off against a small Maoist counter-protest. From James Pomfret at Reuters:

The scuffles broke out after supporters of the paper, published on Thursdays, jeered and skirmished with a small band of leftists holding posters of Chairman Mao Zedong and signs denouncing the Southern Weekly as “a traitor newspaper” for defying the party.

“These people (leftists) are paid agitators of the government, twisting the truth with propaganda. We had to do something about it,” said pro-press freedom protester Cheng Qiubo.

Dozens of police officers had to intervene, though the protests were allowed to continue. Two technicians with a ladder tried to rig a surveillance camera to the branch of a tree outside the newspaper gates, but were swiftly surrounded and shouted down by angry crowds and forced to retreat.

The Economist’s James Miles observed (using the newspaper’s alternative English name):

Small group of leftists only persistent protesters outside Southern Weekend, Spectators wave 50 cents at them. twitter.com/jarmiles/statu…

— James Miles (@jarmiles) January 8, 2013

The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Mozur posted video of the heated confrontation, while others published dozens of photos on Facebook and other social media sites. Some showed Guy Fawkes masks inspired by the Alan Moore graphic novel V for Vendetta, via the 2005 Hollywood adaptation that aired last month on CCTV. From The New York Times’ Jonah Kessel:

Some freedom of speech advocates wearing v for vendetta masks. Said he saw the movie on CCTV recently and ordered the mask

— Jonah Kessel (@jonah_kessel) January 8, 2013

Tea Leaf Nation tracked online support for Southern Weekly:

[… T]hese include some of Chinese social media’s most high profile users from all walks of life. Celebrities such as actress Yao Chen (with 31 million followers) and actor Chen Kui (with 27 million followers) tweeted explicit messages of support on Sina Weibo, a microblog platform. Yao quoted the 1970 Nobel lecture of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian author and dissident, along with a logo of Southern Weekend. Chen was more direct: “I am not that deep, and I don’t play word games; I support the friends at Southern Weekend.”

[…] Ren Zhiqiang (@任志强), one of the most outspoken businessmen in China with almost 13 million followers, tweeted on Sina Weibo, “Freedom of press and freedom of speech are rights given to the society and the people by the constitution; they are also symbols of human rights and freedom. Yet they have become pipe dreams without the rule of law, being seriously distorted and restricted. If truth is not allowed to be spoken, would truth disappear?”

Li Chengpeng and Han Han, China’s two most famous bloggers, both wrote articles in support of Southern Weekend. Li wrote, “We don’t need tall buildings, but we need a newspaper that speaks the truth. We don’t need the second highest GDP in the world, but we need a newspaper that speaks the truth. We don’t need a fleet of aircraft carriers, but we need a newspaper that speaks the truth.”

Han Han’s post was previously featured at CDT on Monday.

A Global Times editorial, ‘Southern Weekend’s ‘Letter to Readers’ Truly Makes One Ponder‘, on the other hand, reiterated a claim posted by Southern Weekly’s official Sina Weibo account: that provincial propaganda authorities in fact had nothing to do with the controversial edits. China Media Project’s David Bandurski had previously reported that newspaper staff felt this to be “completely at odds with the truth”, and that it was issued “without confirmation or authorization from members of the newspaper’s editorial committee.” The Times editorial went on to hit other points from a propaganda directive obtained by CDT: that “Party control of the media is an unwavering basic principle”, and that “external hostile forces are involved in the development of the situation”—including, it alleged, Chen Guangcheng. From translated highlights at Fei Chang Dao:

These people are making spirited demands, and while on the surface they are going after a specific person and event, its obvious to everyone watching that their target is the entire system that involves the media.

Whether these people like it or not, this is common sense: given the current state of China’s society and government, the kind of “free media” that these people yearn for in their hearts simply cannot exist. All of China’s media can develop only to the extent China does, and media reform must remain part-and-parcel of China’s overall reform, and the media absolutely will not become a “political special zone” of China.

[…] Even in the West, the mainstream media will not choose to openly oppose the government.

A version of the editorial also appeared on the English-language Global Times site.

The Diplomat’s David Cohen reported that, as instructed, the editorial was republished by major web portals including Sohu, Sina and Tencent. Each, however, added a disclaimer to the effect that republication did not equal endorsement. Further defiance was shown in screen grabs of headlines on sites’ front pages, arranged so that their first characters spelled out messages of support. According to Amy Li at South China Morning Post, the editorial also appeared in Guangzhou Information Times, Guangzhou’s New Express Daily, Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing Times, Hangzhou’s City Express, Shenzhen’s Daily Sunshine, Xi’an’s Sanqin Daily, Xi’an Evening News and China Business News.

David Bandurski saw the leaked directive as potentially ominous. From China Media Project:

If it is true, as Berkeley’s China Digital Times reports, that media have been issued a propaganda directive on the Southern Weekly incident that deflects blame from Guangdong propaganda officials toward foreign “hostile forces,” that is not an encouraging sign.

Readers should understand that the Southern Weekly crisis is not just a face-off between pro-reform voices and status-quo Party conservatives. In this case, it was propaganda officials in Guangdong — the spiritual heart of China’s reform and opening — who upset the status-quo by exercising censorship to such an intrusive extent that the situation became unacceptable to working journalists, most of whom had already made an uneasy peace with media controls.

The crisis at the Nanfang Media Group is not just about whether Xi Jinping is serious about the ostensible new openness and responsiveness attributed to him by sustained state propaganda. It is about whether China could be moving backward on the issue of media freedom, which would send worrying signals about the overall direction of the new leadership.

At The Wall Street Journal, Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn also discussed the situation in terms of prospects for media and internet freedom, saying that “I don’t believe there’s anybody in the senior leadership who’s committed to those ideals.”

An editorial in The Telegraph suggested that the new leadership’s response will be revealing, finding some encouragement in a People’s Daily editorial with a different tone to Global Times piece:

This is Mr Xi’s first serious test and early indications suggest that he is treading carefully. Demonstrations have been lightly policed and yesterday the People’s Daily, the party’s official outlet, said that propaganda officials should “follow the rhythm of the times” and help the authorities create a “pragmatic and open-minded image”. On the face of it, this heralds a welcome and more tolerant official approach to the media. Whether or not it amounts to anything of substance will become clear in the next few days.

Guangdong’s new Party chief Hu Chunhua will also be under scrutiny: the posting is, in part, a near-final test of his suitability for future national leadership.

For now, however, it remains unclear which way Beijing will move. From Jonah Kessel and Chris Buckley at The New York Times:

Both supporters and critics of Southern Weekend journalists have claimed that Mr. Xi would back their cause.

“I don’t believe that Xi is totally hypocritical when he talks about reform,” said Mr. Chen [Min, also known by the pen name Xiao Shu], who was forced out of the newspaper in 2011.

“The Southern Weekend journalists have said that they accept party control, but the question is what kind of control and how far should it go unchallenged,” Mr. Chen added.

Update (January 8, 11:20 am PST):

Reuters has reported that Guangdong Provincial Party chief Hu Chunhua has stepped into the fray and negotiated an agreement between propaganda officials and Southern Weekly:

Under Hu’s deal, the source said, newspaper workers would end their strike and return to work, the paper would print as normal this week, and most staff would not face punishment. “Guangdong’s Hu personally stepped in to resolve this,” the source said.

“He gets personal image points by showing that he has guts and the ability to resolve complex situations. In addition, the signal that he projects through this is one of relative openness, it’s a signal of a leader who is relatively steady.”

The standoff at the Southern Weekly, long seen as a beacon of independent and in-depth reporting in China’s highly controlled media landscape, has led to demands for the country’s new leadership to grant greater media freedoms.

[...]

It wasn’t possible to immediately corroborate Hu’s involvement in brokering the deal with editorial staff, who may be bound by an agreement not to speak out.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chen Guangcheng, chen min, danwei, David Bandurski, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Global Times, Guangdong, Guangdong Department of Propaganda, Han Han, Hu Chunhua, Jeremy Goldkorn, Li Chengpeng, Mao Zedong, maoism, media conditions, new left, people's daily, propaganda, propaganda department, protests, sina, sina weibo, sohu, Southern Media Group, Southern Weekly, southern weekly protest 2013, tencent, V for Vendetta, Xi Jinping, Xiao Shu
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 Throughout China’s media system, there are direct or indirect opinions against certain censorship policies.

But V for Vendetta seemed to attract particular attention due to its calling for the masses to vehemently overthrow their rulers.

Media freedom is a goal that is worth working relentlessly to reach, but how much an unchecked media can positively contribute to a country’s development is a debatable question.

[...]V for Vendetta being broadcast on CCTV created a brief cyber sensation among Chinese netizens, but soon gave way to new eye-catching stories such as scandals involving officials and the latest leadership appointments in several provinces.

In fact in China’s robust Weibo sphere, where the most active ideas are often exchanged, quotes as V for Vendetta contains are often seen and hardly cause a fuss.

The film being aired on CCTV can be seen as a diversified offering of entertainment programs in today’s China. Hailing it as a barometer of China’s media censorship is amusing but ludicrous.

An AP article covering reactions to the broadcast quotes Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a public intellectual with connections to China’s top brass, who believes that while media restrictions may be changing, that change can only go so far:

An American business consultant and author with high-level Chinese contacts said there is no less commitment to one-party rule in China, so any media reforms will only go so far.

“You can’t have a totally free media as we would have in the West and still maintain the integrity of a one-party system,” said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who wrote the book “How China’s Leaders Think.” He said he thinks restrictions are being eased, “but it has to be limited.”

The new leadership has to tread carefully, Kuhn said, because in the age of the Internet, talk about reforms won’t be forgotten.

“High expectations, if they are not fulfilled, will create a worse situation,” he said.

Also see prior CDT coverage of the editorial voice of Global Times and censorship in China.

© josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Global Times, V for Vendetta, weibo
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The CCTV logo, with a vendetta.

V for Vendetta, the 2005 film about a secretive, anti-totalitarian masked crusader, has long been banned in China. So when CCTV aired the uncut film today, viewers couldn’t believe their eyes. The event is now the second-most discussed topic on Weibo.

The official Weibo account @CCTV6WatchMoviesonTV announced this breakthrough moment:

CCTV6WatchMoviesonTV: V for Vendetta is on tonight at 9:52 p.m. We’ll post the plot synopsis in advance. Movie-lovers, get ready for a treat!

CCTV6打开电视看电影：《V字别动队》今晚21:52播出，提前预告剧情，影迷们可以先过过瘾哦

CCTV acknowledges that plenty of people have seen V for Vendetta despite the ban. Pirated DVDs and downloads make it easy for savvy people to see any film or TV show they like.

CCTV6’s weibo was reposted over 400 times, but has zero comments. It’s likely any comments posted were deleted.

Shocked netizens are wondering what this moment could mean for the future of censorship in China:

NotKouDe: These past few months, not only has CCTV broadcasted an interview with “Labor Camp University Village Official Ren Jianyu,” last night they also aired a film that is considered a metaphorical criticism of government–“V For Vendetta.” It’s been one unbelievable action after another! Could they be testing the waters for greater room for free speech? Or perhaps this was just the new leadership trying to butter up us rabble?

我不是寇德：最近这个月，央视不仅播放了被“劳教的大学村官任建宇”的采访，昨晚更是播放了被认为是带有暗喻政府意味的#V字仇杀队#，接二连三让人惊讶的行为，这会是言论放宽的探路石么？又或者只是新领导上台给我等屁民的一点甜头而已？

HulijunBigAdventure: Artists use lies to tell the truth. Politicians use lies to cover up the truth. In an unprecedented move, CCTV broadcasted “V For Vendetta” for the very first time, and it’s cause for celebration. It has given people hope for reform. Ideas are bulletproof.

狐狸君的人生大冒险：艺术家用谎言道出真相，政客用谎言掩盖真相。央视第一次在大陆破天荒地播放《V字仇杀队》是可喜可贺的，让人民看到了改革的希望。思想是不怕子弹的。

BeijingGrassrootsPeoplesRadio: At 10 p.m. this evening, CCTV will broadcast the film V For Vendetta. Because of this film’s anti-dictatorship, freedom-fighting message, it was previously banned by the government. Although everyone online is very familiar with the film, this is its first open broadcasted on television–by none other than CCTV. Does this signal that the government will relax its control of the media and the Internet a bit? Let’s all tune in at 10 and witness this historical moment together.

北 京草根人民广播电台：今天晚上十点，CCTV6将播出电影《V字仇杀队》，这部反对独裁，争取自由的电影历来是被政府列为禁片的，虽然在网络上为众人所熟 知，但是在大陆公开放映这还是第一次，并且还在中央电视台，这似乎也向大家传递出一个信号，政府对于媒体和网络的管制在一点点解除？十点让我们来一起见证 这一历史性的时刻。

HammerheadScrewdriver: Holy crap! Later tonight I’ll to have go check to see if it was cut off.

锤子头镰刀刃：我擦,今晚上回去看看有没有删改. (12月14日 16:28)

“CCTV airs V for Vendetta” is the second-most discussed topic on Weibo right now.

In fact, it wasn’t cut off.

Qiushuidanyuou: December 21, 2012 is coming! Unbelievably, Imperial Court TV is going to broadcast V For Vendetta! And to think, when I wrote an online review of the movie back in the day, it was deleted.

秋水淡于鸥：2012，12，21就要到了~朝廷台居然也放V字仇杀队了，想当年我写在天涯的影评都被结扎了

Some people have pointed out that CCTV has rendered the film’s title as “V Commando Team” (V字别动队), instead of using the common “V Revenge Killing Squad” (V字仇杀队):

ZhanZhaofengNoSuspense: #V Commando Team# Christ, what is this “V Commando Team” crap? They can’t even type out the two characters for “vendetta”?

湛兆丰无悬念：#V字仇杀队# 天，什么V字别动队，仇杀两个字不能打出来么

Netizens who have scaled the wall are sharing their excitement on Twitter:

CCTV连《V字仇杀队》都能播放了，这难道不是新班子决心改革的前兆？莫非是临时工干的？

— 此俊杰非彼俊杰 (@chengjunjie001) December 14, 2012

chengjunjie001: Even something like “V For Vendetta” can be aired on CCTV now. Could this be sign the new leadership team has really committed to enacting reform? Unless this was just another temp worker mistake…

CCTV6完整播出了《V字别动队》（《V字仇杀队》），并未中断。

— 北风（温云超） (@wenyunchao) December 14, 2012

wenyunchao: CCTV6 aired the entirety of V for Vendetta, and didn’t cut it off in the middle.

这部好片子现在这个形势下放映太合时宜了。独裁者、牢狱、秘密警察、媒体控制、人祸横行、清除“异端”…… 恐惧、逃避、质疑谎言、战胜恐惧、反抗、推翻暴政…… 中国的专制者和公民也是如此关系。RT@wenyunchao CCTV6完整播出了《V字别动队》（《V字仇杀队》），并未中断。

— Hu Jia 胡佳 (@hu_jia) December 14, 2012

hu_jia: This great film couldn’t be any more appropriate for our current situation. Dictators, prisons, secret police, control of the media, man-made disasters, eliminating “heretics”… terror, evasion, questioning lies, victory over fear, resistance, overthrowing tyranny… So, too, is the relationship between China’s dictators and its citizens.

@Kunshou shared a Photoshopped version of Xinwen Lianbo, paraphrasing the scene in which V hijacks the state broadcasting system to issue a call for revolution:

Back on Weibo, Southern Weekend elicited hopeful comments from its readers:

SouthernDaily: -CCTV Airs “V Commando Team”- People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.–V Commando Team will air on the evening of December 14 on CCTV6. As one Internet user said, “[The protagonist] is a terrorist, a crazy person, a gentleman, a thinker, a revolutionary and, in the eyes of the government, a major villain. He symbolizes resistance and advocates the use of violence to liberate the minds of an oppressed people. Tonight, CCTV’s broadcast has many Internet users feeling ‘very surprised.’”

南方日报：【央视播出“V字 别动队”】人民不应该害怕政府，政府应该害怕人民——V字别动队(12月14日晚CCTV6）原名“V字仇杀队”。有网友评价说：他是一名恐怖分子，疯 子，绅士，思想家，革命家，政府眼里的大反派。他象征反抗，崇尚暴力主义来解放被压迫的人民的心灵。今晚，央视播出让很多网友“很意外”。

This reader rejoices:

Jingtingsongfeng: Sooner or later, there will come a day when we’ll all become V!

靜聽松風-：终有一天，我们都会变成V！

Translation by Little Bluegill.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCTV, censorship, film, V for Vendetta
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