BBC tones down news on China website – Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Mure Dickie

From The Financial Express, via A Glimpse of the World:

THE BBC World Service has launched a website targeted at the mainland Chinese market, offering English-language training and news that is unlikely to upset Beijing’s internet censors.

China has long blocked access to the British broadcaster’s main Chinese website, www.BBCChinese.com, which, on February 03, led with a story about US forecasts that Beijing’s suppression of dissent could undermine national stability.

By contrast, the top item on the broadcaster’s new www.BBC China.com.cn site was a Chinese -language news story on the much less sensitive topic ” to Beijing officials at least ” about the row surrounding cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed.

The new website and the adoption of a domain name with the Chinese cn ending mark a big step forward in the BBC’s efforts to build a presence in one of the world’s fastest growing media and education markets.

However, the decision to avoid including any of the broadcaster’s often hard-hitting China coverage could expose it to charges of bowing to Beijing censors.

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