The following examples of censorship instructions, issued to the media and/or Internet companies by various central (and sometimes local) government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” 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.
Two Directives for Reportage on Society News
June 2, 2010
Do not report news regarding on keeping in good health. If you do report, you must use interviews with appointed specialists from the Department of Health, and use reporting formats specified by the Central Propaganda Bureau.
Do not give general reports on public expenditures for the Shanghai World Expo. Do not report on visits by petitioners, but do report on the vulgar (bu wenming) behavior of tourists.
两则社会新闻报道指令
养生类新闻不报道，如报道须采用卫生部指定的专家采访，中宣部指定的报道形式；世博会公款消费不要笼统报道，上访不要报道，但游客的不文明行为要报道；
June 3, 2010On June 3 a suspect carrying a gun opened fire in the Baiyun district of Guangzhou, injuring a police officer before being shot dead. All media outlets must strictly follow and publish copy circulated from the city public security bureau. Do not make any other reports, water down the event, and do not put the story on the front page or in the recommendation index.
3日一名持枪嫌疑人在广州白云区开枪打伤一民警后被击毙。各媒体要严格按市公安局通稿刊播，不作其它报道，淡化处理，不上头版和导读
To all Internet sites: Clean up “harmful content related to Party and national leaders”
June 9, 2010Currently, the transmission and dispersal of harmful doggerel regarding Party and national leaders is fairly serious. According to the indicated demand, each website must initiate inspection and management of harmful information related to central government leaders. Related demands are as follows: each website must organize specialized efforts to take on this task of initiating inspection and management of related information on the Internet.
各网清理“针对党和国家领导人的有害内容”
目前，网上针对党和国家领导人的打油诗及顺口溜类的有害信息传播扩散情况较为突出。根据指示要求，各网站针对网上涉及中央领导的有害信息开展巡查处置，有关工作要求如下：各网站要组织专门力量负责此事，针对网上相关信息开展巡查处置
June 14, 2010
Delete the report dated June 12 from Jinling Evening News regarding the Ma’anshan incident
删除《金陵晚报》6月12日关于马鞍山事件的报道
June 18, 2010
It is not allowed to use the pretext of reporting on the World Cup to make fun of Chinese football
不得以世界杯报道名义嘲笑中国足球
June 18, 2010
Do not report and do not follow domestic strike incidents
不报道不跟进国内罢工事件
Regarding strike incidents occurring domestically: do not report, do not hype, do not re-publish other reports, do not follow.
对国内发生的罢工事件不报道，不炒作，不转载，不跟进。
June 18, 2010
Do not report the story “Cheating on the gaokao via cell phone”
Be advised:
1) Neither republish content nor do independent interviews, reporting, or commentary regarding the story published in China Youth Daily about the student from No. 2 middle school in Zijin county who cheated during the gaokao [college entrance examinations] via his cell phone
2) The shareholders’ meeting of Shenzhen Hongkai Group 深鸿基 to be held on June 18 might cause a large-scale incident. Do not hype the large financial compensation owed by Shenshen Hongkai; do not report on information obtained from unofficial channels.
不报道“高考手机舞弊”
通知：
1、中国青年报报道的紫金县第二中学一考生在高考时带手机作弊一事，请不要转载相关内容，也不要自行采访报道或评论。
2、深鸿基股份有限公司于6月18日召开股东大会，有可能引起群体性事件，不炒作深鸿基公司大额经济补偿的情况，不报道非正规渠道获取的信息。June 18, 2010
With the fourth stage of the gaokao complete, we send the following directive
Do not report on the story, “Guangdong investigates cell phone cheating incident from no. 2 middle school in Zijin.”
刚考完四级，送上指令一条
不报道“广东查处紫金二中高考手机作弊案”It is forbidden to report on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Japan
June 18, 2010
It is forbidden to report on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Japan. At all times, delete related provocative opinions.
禁止报道达赖访日一事
达赖访日一事禁止报道、转载，随时删除有关煽动性言论。
Read more about the “Ministry of Truth” via CDT:
In China, several political bodies are in charge of Internet content control. At the highest level, there is the Central Propaganda Department, which ensures that media and cultural content follows the official line as mandated by the CCP. Then there is the State Council Information Office (SCIO), which has established “Internet Affairs Bureau” to oversee all Websites that publish news, including the official sites of news organizations as well as independent sites that post news content.
This “Internet Affairs Bureau,” sent out very specific instructions to all large news websites daily, and often multiple times per day. Those instructions do not always mean that related contents are completely banned online, but they instruct websites to highlight or suppress certain type of opinions or information in a very detailed manner.
Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those instructions, as well as other type of censorship orders to media and websites, as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” The 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.
