[Swprograms] Slightly OT: Chinese bloggers stage hoax aimed at censorship debate -- WSJ

["Richard Cuff" <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx>]

We occasionally get to talking here about China's media environment --
the following item was in today's Wall Street Journal and merits
reading.

Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA  USA
---


Chinese Bloggers Stage Hoax
Aimed at Censorship Debate
By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER and JUYING QIN
March 14, 2006; Page B3

Some well-known bloggers in China used an unlikely tool last week to
make a point that Western news media and politicians misunderstand
Chinese censorship. They shut themselves down.

Notices posted on the Chinese-language blogs Massage Milk and Milk Pig
announced that "Due to unavoidable reasons with which everyone is
familiar, this blog is temporarily closed."

Within hours, English-language bloggers and Western news media spread
the word that the Chinese government had closed the sites. The BBC
news service reported that Massage Milk was "closed down by the
authorities," adding that the act had coincided with the annual
session of the Chinese legislature. Picking up on that report and
others from news services, French free-press group Reporters Without
Borders issued a statement condemning the closure of the blogs.

China has recently stepped up its censorship of dissent and monitoring
of the Internet, late last year asking Microsoft Corp. to take down
the blog of journalist Michael Anti, among other acts. After the topic
hit the front pages of U.S. newspapers and magazines, Congress held
hearings in February about the ways in which U.S. Internet companies
cooperate with Chinese censorship.

But in this case, it appears the Chinese government wasn't involved.
By Thursday, a day after the shut-downs, the blogs were back up and
running.

In an interview, Beijing-based journalist Wang Xiaofeng of Massage
Milk says he shut his blog down to make a point about freedom of
speech -- just one directed at the West instead of at Beijing. He
calls the Western press "irresponsible" and says that the hoax was
designed "to give foreign media a lesson that Chinese affairs are not
always the way you think."

"They are not just supposed to report based on their own perceptions,
without understanding the circumstances in China," he says, noting
that the BBC's report was exactly what he expected. The BBC didn't
call him to discuss the issue before publishing its stories, he says.

London-based BBC reporter Sebastian Usher, who wrote the original BBC
report, says he did try to contact Mr. Wang but wasn't able to reach
him. "There is a knee-jerk reaction amongst journalists -- including
myself -- to stories that seem to show the Chinese cracking down on
freedom of expression on the Internet," he wrote in an email. The BBC
later corrected its story citing a government role in the shutdowns.

Reporters Without Borders issued a correction to its statement on
March 9, calling the incident a "joke." But Julien Pain, who runs the
organization's Internet Freedom Desk, says he doesn't think Mr. Wang
understands the consequences of the incident.

"If some bloggers start crying wolf this way," Mr. Pain says, "nobody
will listen to us when we try to support those who really need help.
Censorship exists, as well as repression against Internet writers."

Mr. Wang says he and Milk Pig acted jointly. Milk Pig couldn't be
reached for comment.

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