The communist government of China is one of the most controversial governments in recent history. One of the issues of the Chinese government is the strict censorship the government has. Some censored subjects are democracy, police brutality, Maoism, corruption, independence movements, anarchy, gossip, pornography, unregistered religious content, and any news sources that report on these issues. Some experts think that the censorship occurs to prevent any sort of group uprising against the government, similar to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (which is also a censored topic, and if it is ever referred to, it is known as the June 4th incident). Reporters Without Borders ranks China at 175 out 180 in its 2014 index of press freedom, where the countries of the world were ranked on the freedom of their press, number one being the most free. The Committee to Protect Journalists placed China on it's top ten most censored countries list in 2015.
Officially, the Chinese constitution gives it's citizens the right of freedom of speech and press. However, there are specific laws about what any Chinese media can say or refer to as far as state secrets, and the regulations are quite vague. This gives authorities power to punish media by claiming they are dangerous to the country or expose state secrets. Media outlets usually employ their own monitors to make sure their content is politically acceptable. The Communist Party propaganda department and the Bureau of Internet Affairs circulate censorship guidelines weekly to the providers and editors of media.
Officially, the Chinese constitution gives it's citizens the right of freedom of speech and press. However, there are specific laws about what any Chinese media can say or refer to as far as state secrets, and the regulations are quite vague. This gives authorities power to punish media by claiming they are dangerous to the country or expose state secrets. Media outlets usually employ their own monitors to make sure their content is politically acceptable. The Communist Party propaganda department and the Bureau of Internet Affairs circulate censorship guidelines weekly to the providers and editors of media.
There are more than a dozen government agencies that enforce the censorship laws, but the most powerful is the Communist Party Central Propaganda Department (CPD). The CPD works with the General Administration of Press and Publication, as well as the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, to make sure content promotes political agenda. The State Council Administration Office also has a role in censorship, focusing on the censorship of the internet. These groups employ several methods to censor media, many involving those who report or give account to the issues being censored. Reporters and journalists can be demoted or dismissed, lawsuits taken out against them, be fined or arrested, or even have to make forced televised confessions of crimes against the state. In 2014, forty-four reporters were in prison in China, the highest for the year, and fourteen more than the second highest, Iran, at thirty. Thirty of the reporters were jailed on "anti-state" charges.
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Foreign films are also censored, such as the 2012 James Bond movie, Skyfall. Chinese officals removed scenes that they felt portrayed China negatively, including changing subtitles of a line about Chinese torture of prisoners. Though many Americans found this offending to those who worked on the movie, there was little to be done. The Chinese audience is a large part of the film industry, and with only 34 foreign films a year allowed in China, some movies go far to be let into China. One example is the movie Red Dawn, a remake of a 1984 movie of the same name. The original was about a group of teenagers defending their hometown from invading Soviet forces. The remake was set to be released in 2010, but the date was pushed back two years, as the majority of the film was re-shot after it was decided the invading party-which had been changed to Chinese troops-was too controversial, and was re-filmed with North Korean forces as the invaders.
There are also various censors for foreign media. Foreign consultants need permission to report in the country, which makes reporting on issues there, such as corruption, difficult. International journalists have reported that they face surveillance, intimidation from the government, and restrictions on what they can report. The treatment of foreign reports in China has become an international issue, with Vice President Joe Biden questioning the Chinese president both publicly and privately about press freedom during a 2013 visit to China.
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Though much of the media of China and any foreign media published in China is censored, the majority of the international conflict over the Chinese censorship comes from China's recent tightening of internet regulations. The Golden Shield Project, often known as the Great Firewall, is the primary tool of censorship and surveillance by the government. Websites that are considered potentially dangerous, such as Wikipedia, are blocked. Anything deemed dangerous to the political power is blocked as a search term or search result. There are restrictions on blogging services, and websites from foreign countries, such as the websites of the New York Times, can be blacked out for a period of time if they publish controversial articles. In early 2015 there was a crackdown on virtual private networks, making access to United States' sites more difficult. Many social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram are blocked, and China has created alternative sites for use.
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There was a battle between Google and China from 2010 to 2013 about censoring search results, but Google relented in the end, and removed a notification that warned users about potential censorship. Eventually, a specific program was created for China, and Google itself and the email service provided by Google were banned. In spite of all of this, the Chinese population has found was to get around some censorship. There are several software programs that allow users to avoid any control of their internet, and since the crackdown on virtual private networks that allowed more freedom on the internet, a trick that allows for internet use to be routed to a remote server.