Write This, Not That: Instructions From China's “Ministry of Truth”

[lunasun]

http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/24228/write-not-instructions-chinas-ministry-truth


On July 17 a Chinese watermelon vendor died at the hands of plainclothes policemen, or chengguan. The following day, the State Council Information Office sent this missive to China's media outlets: “All websites are asked to remove from their homepages the story of the melon grower beaten to death by chengguan in Linwu County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province. Do not make special topic pages, and do not post video or images. Delete any such previous posts.” Instructions like this are known by Chinese journalists and bloggers as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” More than 2,600 such instructions have been collected on the website China Digital Times.

The collection offers a window into the sometimes bizarre concerns and obsessions of the Chinese authorities. Recently, in addition to the death of the watermelon vendor, media outlets have been asked to delete reports on a gang rape trial (which is no longer referred to as a rape but instead “taking turns having sex”), to not “reprint, comment on, or investigate reports concerning Snowden's betrayal of the NSA,” and to “cover all types of suicide cases in strict accordance with wire copy issued by authoritative judicial departments.” They also ban the media from independently investigating Edward Snowden, suicide cases and the Bo Xilai trial.

Recently, after four elementary school girls were assaulted by their school headmaster in a hotel, the media was instructed “not to sensationalized exaggerate, or comment on the incident in Wanning, Hainan Province in which an elementary school put female students in a hotel room overnight. You may report in an orderly manner according to information issued by authoritative departments.”
The child abuse is part of a larger trend, because only a couple weeks later a new instruction appeared:
Regarding the recent spate of school indecency cases, the media should not make this issue too prominent in layouts. Focus coverage on management and protection measures taken by Party committees, the government, and social organizations, while looking constructively at how similar mishaps can be prevented
The directives are not always asking for straightforward redaction, but instead subtle manipulation of public opinion.
Not covering or denying the “school indecency” cases could have caused more of a problem than it was worth.

In the case of the five year anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake, they instructed “Maintain positive coverage. . .do not produce reflections on so-called
aftereffects.”
............. subtle manipulation of public opinion ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,where do you think CorpUSA is on a scale compared to this or Russia , Iran etc.?