The Great Firewall
Over the last five years, the number of Internet users in China has more than tripled, making China the country with the largest population of people online. However, at the same time, a sophisticated system of censorship in China, commonly called the "Great Firewall," has been put into place. While the Chinese government is fostering an increase in the use of digital technology with an eye to economic advancement, it has simultaneously become one of the most restrictive national governments in the world when it comes to policing online political communication.
The goal of China's censorship system is to shut down Internet sites that are likely to contribute to social instability. Sensitive topics range from the wealth of China's leaders, to the gap between rich and poor, to information on the Dalai Lama, Falun Gong and Chen Guangcheng. All major websites (including international websites) must comply with Chinese regulations or risk being shut down.
Access to The New York Times and Bloomberg L.P. websites has been blocked in China since both organizations released the net worth of high-ranking Chinese government officials in 2012. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are also blocked, and Skype conversations are monitored. Companies must comply with censorship laws if they wish to maintain Internet presences in China. For example, Google's search engine in China recently stopped notifying users of keywords that might trigger censors. Words and phrases that have been blocked from online searches include protest, sex, Hillary Clinton, occupy, empty chair and jasmine. Freedom House, a non-governmental organization that collects information on democracy and human rights, reports that one study showed the Chinese government had deleted 13 percent of posts published across nearly 1,400 blog-hosting and bulletin- board platforms.
In 2010, writer and Internet freedom scholar Rebecca MacKinnon testified at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on human rights that "Internet and mobile phones have empowered many people around the world, and they do have the potential to facilitate greater freedom and democracy.
But more connectivity doesn't automatically lead to more freedom. Other political, legal and technical factors affect whether it's possible for communication technology to live up to its potential."
In an attempt to streamline the censorship process, the Chinese government formed the State Internet Information Office in 2011. It then relocated control of the Internet to that one office, when previously it had been spread among several lower-ranking government offices. Run by Minister Wang Chen, the State Internet Information Office has tightened China's already resolute grip on Internet content.
Since the office was created, the Chinese government has deployed new technology that specifically targets the use of VPN (virtual private network) services, which are often used to circumvent the Great Firewall; VPN
services conceal communication and prevent messages from being read by the Chinese government. As of
2012, some of the biggest Internet providers in China are cutting off connections where VPN services are detected. In late December 2012, Xi Jinping, current president of China and head of the ruling Communist party, announced new rules that require all Internet users to register their full names with service providers.
Persecution of bloggers and Internet journalists who participate in online activism is not uncommon. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, China is the country with the third highest number of journalists, bloggers and Internet activists in prison (Turkey and Iran are first and second, respectively), with 32 offenders behind bars as of December 2012. Actions that lead to imprisonment may be as innocuous as sending an email overseas describing a censorship policy. Justification for imprisonment is often limited to leaking state secrets, without further explanation.
Sources:
» Armstrong, Paul. "Big Brother Still Watching: Internet Censorship On the Up, Report Says." CNN, September 28, 2012.
» Arthur, Charles. "China tightens 'Great Firewall' Internet Control with New Technology." The Guardian, December 14, 2012.
» Chen, Shirong. "China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls." BBC, May 4, 2011.
» Committee to Protect Journalists. "Number of Jailed Journalists Sets Global Record."
» Freedom House. "China."
» Halliday, Josh. "Google's Dropped Anti-censorship Warning Marks Quiet Defeat in China." The Guardian, January 7, 2013.
» High Tech, Low Life Press Kit.
» Martin, Justin D. "Which Countries Jail the Most Journalists Per Capita?" Columbia Journalism Review, April 2, 2012.
» Osawa, Juro. "Google Halts Warnings to China Users." Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2013.
» Roberts, Dexter. "The Great Internet Firewall of China." Bloomberg Businessweek, October 26, 2012.
» Shao, Maria. "Chinese Take Creative Approach to Internet Censorship." Stanford Graduate School of Business, November 29, 2011.
» Shishkin, Philip. "How China is Sealing Holes In Its Internet Firewall." Bloomberg, December 30, 2012.
Citizen Journalism
Citizen journalism, also sometimes called bottom-up journalism, grassroots journalism, open source journalism or participatory journalism, can range from blogging about local events to tweeting pictures of natural disasters. As Zola points out in the film High Tech, Low Life, citizen journalism often doesn't go beyond mere observation and should not be mistaken for traditional journalism. Zola has written online that "although my blog might also count as news, I often do things that aren't allowed of professional media. I put photos of my own face on pictures . . . I'm not objective."
In an era when anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can create a blog and report on what he or she has seen, citizen journalism is booming around the world. While citizen journalists are not credentialed (a fact professional journalists sometimes bemoan), they can fill holes in mainstream media coverage. Some online newspapers have even created blogs where citizens can post their stories.
Zola says, "As for what a citizen reporter is, I don't think the professionalism of a journalist applies. Just as long as his news reports aren't done in a professional capacity, as long as he is willing to vouch for the information he provides and no matter how novel or far-out his news is, it's all still reliable news and leads.
"As for what citizen news is, that would be unfiltered, independent, non-objective and diverse news recorded and distributed by citizens themselves; only with a variety of viewpoints can objectivity be most closely approached."
Despite China's efforts to silence citizen journalists who do not adhere to the country's strict guidelines, there are instances where citizen journalism has altered the actions of the government. Hundreds of millions of messages are sent daily through Sina Weibo (similar to Twitter). The Chinese government has modified its actions on a small number of issues because of massive pressure from Sina Weibo. Some citizen journalists have also broken through China's censorship, and others have stopped violence against citizens and child slavery. In China, these successful cases are few and
far between, but citizen journalists continue to risk persecution to post photos, articles and videos countering the staterun press.
Sources:
» ABC News. "'Citizen Journalism' Battles the Chinese Censors."
» Al Jazeera. "Chinese Citizen Journalism Succeeds."
» Glaser, Mark. "Your Guide to Citizen Journalism." PBS Mediashift, September 27, 2006.
» Kennedy, John. "China: Zuola on How Citizen Media Should Work." Global Voices, December 22, 2007.
» Nikkanen, Hanna. "They Shoot Citizen Journalists, Don't They? Curating or outsourcing? Opportunities and Threats in Post-gatekeeper Journalism." The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, December 10, 2012.
Capitalist Dreams and Social Harmony
In the past few years, China has surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest economy and the world's largest exporter. When Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, more than four fifths of the employed population of China worked in agriculture. In 2011, slightly less than 35 percent of the workforce had an agricultural occupation.
The opening of the Chinese economy to the world in the late 1970s and early 1980s saw a drastic transition away from agriculture and toward industry. An influx of foreign investors created soaring demand for labor, and millions were lured out of the underdeveloped, western farmland to work in factory towns in the southern coastal regions. China's newly liberalized economy boomed, which led to a massive migration to city centers. China's urban population increased from 18 percent in 1978 to 47 percent in 2010.
As the population continues to urbanize, the gap between rural and urban wages is widening. By 2009, the average urban worker earned 3.36 times as much as his or her rural counterpart. China's focus on industry often marginalizes rural farmers economically and socially, an issue Tiger Temple highlights in his blogs.
The rise of a dominant and growing middle and upper class has also led to a shift in policy focus and increased emphasis on economic stability as the road to political longevity. However, as journalist and Internet freedom activist Rebecca MacKinnon testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 2010, "The Chinese Communist Party fully recognizes that it is no longer possible for a nation to be economically competitive without being connected to the global Internet. Rather than try to restrict connectivity, modern authoritarian governments are working aggressively to use Internet and mobile technologies to their own advantage."
Former president Hu Jintao's approach to rapid technological progress was to create the "harmonious society" doctrine in 2006 in an attempt to create not just a prosperous society but a socially stable one. The doctrine aimed to narrow the wealth gap and reduce social strife. Hu's vision for a harmonious society imagines every person comfortable and happy and the Chinese government managing that harmony. While positives from the doctrine included
a campaign against corporate corruption, many Chinese citizens see the doctrine as another way for the government to control its citizens. The goal of developing a harmonious society ha often been invoked as a justification for an increase in censorship.
Sources:
» Central Intelligence Agency. "The World Factbook: China."
» Chen, Shirong. "China Rural-Urban Wage Gap Widens." BBC, January 16, 2009.
» Encyclopedia Britannica. "China."
» Fan, Maureen. "China's Party Leadership Declares New Priority: 'Harmonious Society.'" The Washington Post, October 12, 2006.
» French, Howard. "Letter from China: A 'Harmonious Society' Hearing Different Notes." The New York Times, January 4, 2008.
» MacKinnon, Rebecca. "Global Internet Freedom and the Rule of Law, Part II." Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, March 2, 2010.
» PBS."China from the Inside."
Chinese Censorship as a Tool for Political Control
Article 35 of China's constitution promises the rights to freedom of speech, press, assembly and demonstration. However, the rights in the constitution are not enforced unless a supplementary law is passed to do so, and there are laws in existence that undermine social media and press that may issue calls for collective action. The American Political Science Review reported in May 2013 that criticism of China's government is actually not the target of the country's censorship program. Rather, the target is collective expression (regardless of the content) that might lead to public gatherings or demonstration.
Some Internet freedom scholars and activists, such as Harvard researcher Gary King and Chinese journalist Michael Anti, believe that social media is actually a convenient tool for the Chinese government to use to censor content selectively and shape public discussion. For example, when a high speed train crash occurred in Wenzhou in July 2011, the subsequent outpouring of protest on social media was not blocked, as many of the protests were aimed at local government corruption. Instead, the central government, which had long been seeking to disband the country's railway network and reconfigure it so that it would be more in line with other parts of China's state-run economy, allowed five days of critical free speech about the case. Pressure to remove Liu Zhijun from his position as railway minister came to a head. Once Liu had been removed from office, the railway system was disbanded and restructured.
The Chinese government is not quick to answer questions about its censorship policy, though it did issue its first Internet security white paper on the Internet in May 2010. An excerpt from the paper reads, "The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the safe flow of Internet information, actively guides people to manage websites in accordance with the law and use the Internet in a wholesome and correct way."
The paper goes on to stipulate that no individual or organization may disseminate information that endangers state security,
subverts state power or damages state honor.
There are issues of Internet censorship and restriction around the world. Governments shut down websites, subpoena journalists' phone records and filter Internet content. The Committee to Project Journalists reports that the African country Eritrea is the world's most censored, followed by North Korea, Syria and Iran. The full list can be found here: http://www.cpj.org/reports/2012/05/10-mostcensored-countries.php. Such censorship policies are often implemented in response to political unrest and/or under authoritarian rule.
In May 2013, the United States Justice Department came under fire after reports that government officials secretly had been seizing phone records of editors and reporters at the Associated Press. While the government has not disclosed an official reason for the seizure of those records, it is widely presumed to be linked to an investigation into a 2012 press leak about a C.I.A. operation in Yemen.
Sources:
» Chen, Shirong. "China Rural-Urban Wage Gap Widens." BBC, January 16, 2009.
» Committee to Protect Journalists. "10 Most Censored Countries."
» Council on Foreign Relations. "Media Censorship in China."
» Flock, Elizabeth. "What Internet Censorship Looks Like Around the World." The Washington Post, January 18, 2012.
» King, Gary, Jennifer Pan and Margaret Roberts. "How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism But Silences Creative Expression." American Political Science Review, May 2013.
» Moore, Malcolm. "China Abolishes Powerful Railway Ministry in Battle Against Corruption." The Telegraph, March 10, 2013.
» Savage, Charlie and Leslie Kaufman. "Phone Records of Journalists Seized by U.S." The New York Times, May 13, 2013.
» Simonite, Tom. "Social Media Censorship Offers Clues to China's Plans." MIT Technology Review, April 29, 2013.
» TED. "Michael Anti: Behind the Great Firewall of China."
» Wang, Jasmine. "China Unveils Rail Ministry Breakup to Curb Corruption." Bloomberg, March 11, 2013.