The Latest Directives from the Ministry of Truth (Updated)

Picture 4The Ministry of Truth (or Minitrue, in Newspeak) is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the Chinese blogosphere, it is the online lingo for the Central Propaganda Department and generally speaking, all other subordinate propaganda agencies including Internet supervision departments.

Today, it’s been said that news does not break, it tweets. For the officials in the the Ministry of Truth, the news is that their supposedly confidential instructions get tweeted as well. CDT selected the following tweets about propaganda orders handed down to websites by various departments, which have been leaked and paraphrased by Twitterers between August 15 to 25, translated by CDT:

真理部最新指令:
The Latest Directives from the Ministry of Truth:

《中国日报》近期动作幅度过大的问题,提出点名批评。中国日报大审新疆嫌犯“报道严重失实”,禁止转载。
– China Daily’s recent actions have been problematic and have resulted in the paper being criticized by name. China Daily’s report on the mass trials of Xinjiang suspects “seriously departed from facts” and it is forbidden to republish it.

禁止纪念柏林墙倒塌德国大使馆举办的“柏林墙之旅”活动涉及毒害我意识形态领域,宣扬西方民主自由思想,此活动相关信息不得报道,如有发布一律删除。
– It is forbidden to report on the “Journey of the Berlin Wall” activity held by the German Embassy and other activities commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall which involve poisoning our ideological sphere and propagating Western democracy and freedom. Any related reports that are published will be immediately removed.

网站首页和新闻中心首页全部页面和版块的负面报道总数不得超过全部内容的30%,也不能出现在某一区域负面新闻堆积的情况。网管办将逐一检查,未能达标者“一律严肃处理。”
– Negative reports on website homepages and news center websites (all pages and all sections) must not exceed 30%. Additionally, these reports must not be concentrated on any specific region. The network management will perform checks, and those who do fail to meet targets will “be strictly dealt with.”

请马上将新京报关于民政部电话回应地震捐款流向报道,从首页及板块首要位置撤出,并关闭跟帖评论,新闻时政论坛的相关文章做屏蔽处理。原文:民政部:NGO公信力不高致捐款入国库 http://bit.ly/R0wgO
– Please immediately remove the Beijing News report on the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ response to reports about the flow of earthquake relief donations from the front page and from any prominent positions of inner pages and close all comments. Related postings in news and current affairs forums must be filtered. Original article

通知: 1.国庆期间各单位务必加大全局性新闻的宣传力度,做好主流信息的宣传工作。 2.评论员发文指标要执行到位,考核以量化统计为重要依。 3.切实提高监管效率,社政类文章应随时查阅、处理。
Notice: 1. During the National Day period, all work units must strengthen the propaganda level of the overall news, carry out propaganda work of mainstream information. 2. Commentators’ posts must adhere to the targets in place by using quantitative statistics as a basis for examination. 3. Earnestly raise the rate of supervision effectiveness. Read and deal with social and political articles in a timely manner.

国庆前后,“关于环境污染或血铅中毒等的、关于官员腐败干部落马、关于交通事故”的新闻,坚决不能上首页要闻区。同时,撤除首页上网站、新闻中心首页上的社会频道版块,并迅速清理首页上的负面新闻,含要闻、国内、社会等,位置一律压低。
– During the National Day period, news about environmental pollution or blood poisoning, official corruption or cadres who are relieved of their duties, or traffic accidents must not be published on the front page of news sections. At the same time, remove any social channel forums from the front pages of websites or news portals; rapidly remove any negative news from the front page and keep breaking news, domestic news and society news at a low position.

有回望建国60周年历史栏目的,立即“快进”,不许“老在六十、七十年代转悠了”,即日起从1978年开始回顾,主题是发展、进步。
– As for 60th anniversary columns that take a look back in history, immediately “fast forward,” do not allow articles that “keep dwelling on the 60s and 70s.” Look back immediately starting from 1978, with the main subjects of development and progress.

关键时期,对于群体事件的报道,各媒体应援引《新华社》《人民日报》的文章,不得擅自采访、刊登、转载未经审批内容。
– At this crucial period, when reporting on mass incidents, all media must quote from Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily articles, and are not allowed to carry unauthorized interviews or publish or reproduce contents that have not been approved.

关于群体性事件,只能用新华社、人民日报、省级党报的原发稿件内容作为稿源,只能报事件的两端——即事发的报道和事后处理。
– For mass incidents, only use content originally published by Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily or other provincial-level party papers for your sources. Only report the two ends of the incident — the start of the incident, and the handling of the incident.

各网站于国庆期间,不得转载南方周末、南方都市报、新京报、京华时报的报道、文章。正面负面都不要转。
– During National Day period, do not republish reports from Southern Weekend, Southern Metropolis Daily, Beijing News, or Beijing Times. Do not publish positive or negative reports from these papers.

各网以大红色块烘托国庆氛围,“为国庆铺上红地毯”,迅速营造热烈、喜庆、辉煌的气氛。并将逐一检查,未能达标者“一律严肃处理。”
– All websites need to use bright red color to promote a celebratory atmosphere for National Day, “roll out the red carpet,” and quickly create a lively, celebratory, and glorious mood. Additionally, there will be inspections, and those who fail to meet targets will “be severely dealt with.”

Update: 请各搜索引擎将以下关键词搜索指向白名单,于第一时间生效:
央视大楼 玩笑、央视 色情玩笑、成都商报 央视 玩笑、成都商报 雷蕾 央视、央视新址大楼设计师、央视新址设计师承认、设计师承认央视、央视大裤衩设计师、库哈斯 央视、央视 性器、央视 生殖器、cctv 设计师 承认、cctv 色 情玩笑、cctv大楼 玩笑、cctv大楼 生殖器
– Every search engine please point the following keyword search results to the “white list,” effective immediately:
“CCTV Building, Joke” “CCTV Porn Joke” “Chengdu Commercial News, CCTV, Joke” “Chengdu Commercial News, Lei Lei, CCTV” “CCTV New Building Designer” “CCTV New building designer admits” “CCTV big pants designer” “Koolhass, CCTV”, “CCTV sex organ” “CCTV designer admits” “CCTV building, sex organ”

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