The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online.
Twitter user @beidaijin shared the following propaganda directive, also posted to CDT Chinese:
Cyberspace Administration of China: (Notice) All websites, please strengthen oversight of comments on news posts. Focus on cleaning up comments that attack the system and central leaders, but allow netizens to rationally express themselves. (July 9, 2016) [Chinese]
The CAC last week issued a statement forbidding news websites from using unverified sources obtained via social media. This was the latest in a stream of recent measures to reinforce Party media control and combat “false information.” Two other agencies, the Party’s Central Propaganda Department and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, were admonished last month for their lackluster work in this area.
Meanwhile, the CAC’s founding chief Lu Wei was replaced the week before last under a cloud of uncertainty, but his departure is not expected to bring any great change in policy direction.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors,who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. 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. See CDT’s collection of Directives from the Ministry of Truth since 2011.
