The Washington Post reports that a recent plea from Propaganda chief Li Changchun to Hu Jintao to close down Yanhuang Chunqiu magazine, which had published an article criticizing the Party’s monopoly on power, was rebuffed:
Although Hu has generally shown a restrictive attitude toward free speech, he counseled tolerance this time, the report said, advising Li that it is healthier to have such debate out in the open than to let it ferment under the surface. The magazine remains on the stands.
The incident was only the latest in a string of setbacks for Li and China’s propaganda bureaucracy. An explosion of negative news — tainted food exports, slave labor at brick kilns, political challenges and even supposed cardboard dumplings — has pained party censors and renewed demands for ideological and political discipline among China’s journalists. [Full text]
Read more about the Yanhuang Chunqiu article from CDT’s Jonathan Ansfield.
