The Southern Metropolis Daily reprimanded cartoonist Kuang Biao in August for his depiction of journalist Chang Ping bound in an ominous stranglehold:

According to the China Media Project, Chang has recently been barred from writing for Southern Weekend and Southern Metropolis Daily. Chang has previously served as editor of the Southern Metropolis Daily and the Bund Magazine. In 2008 he published a controversial article titled “Tibet: nationalist sentiment and the truth” for which he faced an online attack from netizens. In a document from the Southern Metropolis Daily editorial committee, which is being circulated online, Kuang is criticized, fined and demoted for his portrayal of Chang’s dilemma. [Translated by Don Weinland]:

Concerning the decision on Kuang Biao’s punishment

The Southern Metropolis Daily’s Visual Center cartoon editor Kuang Biao created a cartoon based solely on hearsay with an existing orientation bias and put it on his personal blog at Sina.com. The cartoon’s content involved sensitive matters and violated propaganda discipline and related newspaper office regulations and had a negative impact. After the newspaper office discovered [the cartoon], it hurriedly deleted and managed it, and furthermore asked Sina in a timely manner to assist in deleting and blocking the violating posts, making a concerted effort to reduce negative impact.

This publication’s editorial committee has stressed time and again that publication employees strictly abide by news propagation discipline and establish a high level of overall awareness. They are responsible for that awareness and political sensitivity. The cartoon that Kuang Biao took upon himself to create and propagate passed along fault and disfavor to the group and to the publication’s related employees, having a negative impact.

After research by the publication’s editorial committee, it has decided to give Kuang Biao a publication-wide censure, a 1,500 yuan fine and a demotion from mid-level editor to normal editor.

This publication’s editorial committee restates that all employees should take a serious lesson [from this] and strictly adhere to the discipline concerning news propagation and the newspapers’ regulations, prudently using their personal online tools and maintaining the reputation of the publication.

Read more by and about Chang Ping via CDT.