The Guardian ran a front page article today highlighting the next step in China’s web censorship. Its points were thought provoking to say the least.
For some time now China’s ‘great firewall’ has been worryingly effective at crushing anti-governmental sentiment and monitoring and removing ‘inappropriate discussion’. Fans of free speech will be pleased to learn – and I mean this in the sarcastic sense – that as of January 31 new regulations come in to force allowing the government to remove and ban any video content that is deemed ‘politically or morally objectionable’. Our beloved YouTube could even be zapped from the Chinese side of the internet.
Political views aside, China’s continued web censorship is setting it up for a fall, and the edge of the cliff is fast approaching. What exactly will it do when the Olympics come around?
The number of foreign journalists heading to the event has been estimated at around 20,000. With this fact in mind it is impossible to see how foreign journalists, many hailing from more liberal countries than China, could possibly operate in this environment. The importance of the web to modern journalism for both research and the communication of news around the world means that a slackening of such censorship activities will be absolutely vital for foreign news services to function.
However, were the government to have an epiphany and begin to loosen the reigns on the web, isn’t it inevitable that many journalists will go with a different agenda. How many foreign correspondents would jump at the chance to get the real inside story on China, warts and all? And what of China's embattled bloggers, will they finally obtain the freedom they crave?
What a shame…it appears to be catch 22 for the Chinese censorship machine: if they continue their strict regime, monitoring and limiting the news leaving the country, it will be blindingly obvious to external observers, highlighting China's censorship still further and fuelling the external forces of change. While, if it let things slip during the games, it’ll be a free-for-all on news highlighting China’s Draconian regime no matter how well they do in the sports.
