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.”
Central Propaganda Department: The Liu Zhijun case is now closed. Media coverage must employ Xinhua wire copy. Do not produce detailed reports, do not comment, and do not exagerrate the story. (July 8, 2013)
中宣部：刘志军案已经宣判，各媒体报道采用新华社通稿。不做深入报道，不评论，不渲染。
Former Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun was convicted of bribery and abuse of power and given a suspended death sentence on Monday. Liu was fired in 2011 after a high-speed rail crash in Wenzhou killed 40 passengers.
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.
