The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online.
State Council Information Office: All websites are kindly asked to delete the article “180 Countries Ranked in 2013 Press Freedom Index; China at 175th” and related content. (February 11, 2014)
国新办：请各地各网站检查删除“2013年度180个国家新闻自由度排名 中国位列第175”一文有关内容。
Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index is available here. China ranked 173rd among 179 countries in 2012. In their analysis of this year’s index, Reporters Without Borders noted that Beijing is increasingly influencing media outlets in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.”
CDT collects these directives from a variety of sources and checks 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.
