China Announces Media Crackdown

Isn't it just lovely?

HONG KONG, Aug. 15 — China today disclosed a crackdown on “false news reports, unauthorized publications and bogus journalists,” two months before the opening of the politically sensitive Communist Party congress, which is held once every five years.

The crackdown, confirmed by the government’s official web site, comes after a television journalist was given a one-year prison sentence and a $130 fine on Sunday for allegedly fabricating a story about Beijing dumpling makers that were said to use cardboard as filler.

According to The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and the State Press and Publication Administration together warned that, “Those who intentionally fabricated news that caused public anxiety and tarnished the nation’s image would be harshly dealt with or even prosecuted if they broke the law.”

Governments never claim the right to suppress the truth. Only dangerous, vicious lies. Of course, oppressive governments do claim the right to decide for their subjects what constitutes the truth, and what constitutes dangerous, vicious lies.