The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.”
Beijing Internet Management Office: Websites must not carry the Greenpeace Beijing office’s report “Thirsty Coal 2: Shenhua’s Water Grab.” If news and images from the report have already been posted, please remove them. Interactive platforms must permit comments related to Greenpeace and its report to be deleted and related searches to be blocked. (July 24, 2013)
北京市网管办： 对绿色和平北京分部《噬水之煤——神华鄂尔多斯煤制油项目超采地下水和违法排污调查报告》各网不刊载，已经登载了此新闻的相关报导和图片专题的请删除。互动环节有关绿色和平和此新闻的评论以及相关搜索要予以清理和屏蔽。
In a report published July 23, Greenpeace calls Shenhua Group’s Coal-to-Liquid Demonstration Project in Ordos, Inner Mongolia “a ‘water grab’ in the most ruthless way.” The report found that groundwater levels have dropped to 100 meters since Shenhua, a state-owned company and the largest coal producer in China, began the project eight years ago, leading to drought and desertification.
The report is available for free in both English and Chinese.
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.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.
