Zeng Li – Southern Weekly censor

Yesterday, just three days after retiring, Southern Weekly in-house censor Zeng Li died at the age of 61. The story via SCMP:

Zeng Li had become a prominent figure during the weekly’s protest against censorship in January. His farewell letter has been shared on Weibo thousands of times on Thursday and caused widespread soul-searching about the state of the media in China.

“Looking back on the last four years, I made mistakes,” Zeng wrote in his farewell letter, dated March 28.

“I have killed some drafts that I shouldn’t have killed, I have deleted some content that I shouldn’t have deleted, but in the end I woke up, I preferred not to carry out to end my political mission and go against my conscience, I don’t want be a sinner against history.”

The letter is “surely an important document in China’s history,” wrote Academy of Social Sciences scholar Ma Yong.

David Bandurski of China Media Project writes that many Chinese journalists are mourning Zeng’s passing, underscoring the fact that even those engaged in the sordid craft of censorship are not faceless sorcerers who hide behind curtains, but real, actual people, often with a desk in the newsroom, and the ability to laugh, be nuanced, have pangs of conscience.

CMP has more excerpts of Zeng’s letter and reactions to his death.

Confessional last letter of Southern Weekly’s in-house censor days before he died (SCMP)
The death of a news censor (CMP)

Japan’s highly respected daily The Asahi Shimbun suggested in an article on Monday that Xi Jinping was unhappy with the way the “media control division” handled last week’s Southern Weekly ordeal. Specifically, Xi was unhappy with the way Liu Yunshan, chief of the propaganda department and a longtime Hu Jintao guy, forced newspapers around the country to carry a hardline Global Times editorial.

The article is anonymously sourced, so you’ll have to remember that government officials are usually great at planting stories, but definitely read on:

The propaganda department then instructed all major newspapers to toe the party line concerning the censorship of the Southern Weekly.

At a meeting in Zhongnanhai in Beijing on the night of Jan. 9, Xi, visibly displeased, asked if the media control division was not adding to confusion, sources familiar with the discussions said.

Xi was responding to a report from Liu Yunshan, chief of the propaganda department of the party central committee, on censorship of the Southern Weekly, the sources said.

Liu, a Hu Jintao guy, is part of the seven-person Politburo Standing Committee. As optimistic Xi Jinping supporters would like to believe, it’s Hu’s people who are continuing to screw everything up.

The Asahi Shimbun again:

Xi expressed concerns about Liu’s order that major newspapers around the nation carry the editorial that appeared in the Jan. 7 edition of the Global Times, which is affiliated with the People’s Daily, the party mouthpiece.

The editorial denied authorities’ involvement in the rewrite of the Southern Weekly’s New Year edition.

That Global Times editorial was the one eventually caused a kerfuffle in the Beijing News newsroom.

Continuing:

In an earlier editorial titled, “We need to think about the Southern Weekly in a level-headed manner,” the Global Times said, “We cannot continue old media control methods.”

Liu took it as criticism directed at him, sources said, and the propaganda department instructed the newspaper to publish the new editorial.

Xi suggested that Liu’s handling of the matter has harmed social stability because a problem in Guangdong province has spread nationwide, the sources said.

Hey propaganda department: Xi Jinping is right, you’re wrong.

If there was only some way to get this message to Liu Yunshan and his staff. An editorial in a major paper, maybe…

Finally:

Liu had decided to impose penalties, including dismissals, against editors and reporters who disobeyed the order. But Xi gave instructions not to punish journalists who protested the propaganda department, according to a party source formerly involved in media control.

Xi Jinping is great. Liu Yunshan — fuck that guy. That’s the conclusion we’re supposed to reach, yes?

Alas, we’ve been afforded a glimpse at yet another political battleground. Perhaps the people in charge have finally come to grips with our global digital age and realize the game can no longer be won by merely controlling domestic media: international media can be useful as well. Standby for more of these type of stories from “sources familiar with the situation” — who, by the way, never used to talk.

Xi questions propaganda chief’s handling of censorship row (The Asahi Shimbun)

In Guangzhou recently, the German TV station Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) was interviewing a young man about Southern Weekly when a team of plainclothes police allegedly swooped in and smuggled him into a white van. The description on the YouTube video from channel ChinaNewsChannal suggests that the officers kidnapped the man, Jiang Di, because he was giving the interview. Jiang had said — and this is all recorded — he hopes China’s papers, including Southern Weekly, can be more like foreign media, report the truth, and not compromise. There’s nothing there that’s very controversial, all things considered.

The last words he reportedly said were, “In fact I’m not afraid, not afraid.”

I saw this video earlier, and all the red flags went up. (I’m posting it now because the Washington Post’s Max Fisher just went ahead with the story, so it’s sure to be everywhere soon.) We know the Public Security Bureau does on occasion arrest people by throwing them into unmarked vehicles, but would they really do it in broad daylight in front of foreign media that’s conspicuously filming? No matter what you think of these PSB strongmen  – sclerotic, cretinous, repugnant — you have to admit it seems unlikely they’d kidnap a citizen for giving an interview… right? Something else is going on here… right?

I don’t know. Let’s open it up for discussion. Especially if you’re German, lend us your two cents.

UPDATE, 11:24 pm: From Jo Floto, BBC’s Asia Bureau Chief in Beijing:

@beijingcream yes they did. Several times last week.

— Jo (@JoFloto) January 15, 2013

UPDATE, 1/16, 12:14 am (h/t Jonathan Alpart): According to a ZDF article published January 11 (it’s in German, so I’m relying on Google Translate here), the above incident happened on Thursday, January 10. Jiang Di told ZDF he was detained and interrogated for nine hours, but did not specify what he was asked. Then he was released.

The PSB officers apparently only moved in on Jiang after the cameras stopped rolling. The ZDF cameraman, judging by the video, then resumed filming.

Sina Weibo was recently aflutter with Yi Nengjing, also known as Annie Yi, Inō Shizuka, and formerly Wu Jingy. As Tea Leaf Nation tells us, born in 1969 to a political family, Yi has been somewhat of an atypical pop star, often clashing with media and remaining outspoken even at the cost of potential endorsements.

She’s taken her influence to new territory. TLN has the story of her latest escapade into controversy, related to the Southern Weekly incident:

On her Sina Weibo microblogging account, she shared a coded message with her 6.5 million fans, attaching a photo of the Global Times editorial to make her message clear:

“Good boy, watch that door. As long as we are here, this place belongs to us. So if anyone says to you that this place is his, bite him. Good boy, watch that door. We have knives and guns, no one dares to come, so you don’t even need to bite, just barking is enough. Do you hear that, you dogs who threaten others on the strength of your master’s power? If you threaten me, even if you’re not really a dog, you’re just like one. Good boy, I butchered another dog for you, here are their bones for you to chew on. I’m encouraging you because I’m proud of you.”

The post struck a chord, getting re-tweeted over 36,000 times before it was deleted by censors.

Her defiance continued with even more posts, which may cost her a chance to appear on the mainland in the future.

By early evening on January 10 in China, the authorities had made formal contact with Yi. She wrote on her Weibo account, “I’m going to drink tea, hope it’s tasty.” Being invited to “drink tea” is a well-known euphemism among those Web users who stir up enough trouble online that authorities visit them in person.

As of January 11, it is reported on China’s social media that the promotion campaign for Yi’s new book in China was cancelled.

How a Taiwanese Singer Became an Overnight Free-Speech Star in China (Tea Leaf Nation)

China’s Internet censors are really outdoing themselves with the Southern Weekend scandal. Not only have they blocked searches for “Southern Weekend” on Sina Weibo and other microblogs, they’re making some attempts to block discussion within the Chinese diaspora.

Some writers at Tech in Asia conducted a little experiment today with WeChat (Weixin), a Chinese texting app developed by Tencent, and found trying to type Southern Weekend in Chinese resulted in this Orwellian message:  

The message “南方周末” you sent contains restricted words. Please check it again.

Not easily defeated, they tried again.

We’ve tested it out going from users in China to Thailand (blocked), Thailand to China (blocked), and even Thailand to Singapore (blocked); the prohibited words are not sent at all. The name of the magazine can be sent in English.

Thoughts on why it’s not blocked in English?

In related matters, China Digital Times has a full rundown of search terms blocked on Sina Weibo thanks to Southern Weekend:

January 6-7
- south (南): nán
- place (方): fāng
- week (周): zhōu
- end (末): mò

January 7 onwards
-Southern

-Weekend

- nf + zm

- nanfang
- read and understand China (读懂中国): Southern Weekly’s motto is “Here, read and understand China” (在这里，读懂中国)
- China dream (中国梦): The title of the original Southern Weekly editorial was “China’s Dream, the Dream of Constitutionalism” (中国梦宪政梦).
- constitutional government (宪政): Also translated as “constitutionalism.”
- censor (审查)
- propaganda department (宣传部)
- Central Propaganda [Department] (中宣)
- violate the constitution (违宪)
- dedication message (献词)
- message of greeting (贺词)

Nonetheless, South China Morning Post assures us that celebrities are finding their way to voice their opinions via social media:

[Former Google China chief Li Kaifu], a Taiwanese-born American, said on his microblog: “From now on, I will only talk about east, west and north, as well as Monday through to Friday” – omitting references to the south or the weekend. The newspaper’s Chinese name is literally translated as “Southern Weekend”.

Personally, I think “restricted words” sounds like a great title for a high school poem, or a linguistics dissertation.

UPDATE, 1/12, 2:09 pm: Tencent called the case a “glitch,” but Tech in Asia replies, “But there’s clear evidence (see the screenshot collage above) of very specific ‘sensitive’ phrases being blocked by the app – particularly the Chinese name of the outspoken magazine Southern Weekend.”

Now China’s WeChat App is Censoring Its Users Globally (Tech in Asia)

Media reports say that some Southern Weekly journalists were told they could return to their former posts and that the paper would publish today, as normal. Here we are, slipping into the noon hour, and…

Southern Weekend has yet to appear on newsstands in Guangzhou, as it usually does on Thursday mornings. Delayed.

— Edward Wong (@comradewong) January 10, 2013

We’ll keep an eye on people who are in Guangzhou keeping an eye on this.

Meanwhile, ponder this: even if things return to “normal,” how long will the “peace” last? How long until authorities decide the foreign media has stopped caring, and pay out some early pensions?

UPDATE, 11:23 am: Mark MacKinnon of Canada’s The Globe and Mail:

Am hearing Southern Weekend standoff may not be as settled as many believe…

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) January 10, 2013

Getting my credentials taken for standing near Southern Weekend offices in Guangzhou…

— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) January 10, 2013

UPDATE, 11:40 am: Front page of this week’s issue:

Here’s the front page of this week’s Southern Weekly twitter.com/28wordslater/s…

— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 10, 2013

UPDATE, 11:43 am:

Also bit.ly/U6amLv RT @28wordslater: Here’s the front page of this week’s Southern Weekly twitter.com/28wordslater/s…

— Eldes Tran (@eldestran) January 10, 2013

Via SCMP:

In it first edition since a row over censorship began, Guangzhou newspaper Southern Weekly said in an editorial on Thursday that Communist regulation of the media must “keep pace with the times”.

“It’s fundamental that the party regulates the press, but its method of regulation needs to be advanced to keep pace with the times,” the Southern Weekly said, without making direct reference to the controversy.

UPDATE, 12:01 pm: Reuters reports that the paper is out in Beijing and Shanghai, but not Guangzhou:

The newspaper, which is published on Thursdays, was not available in at least six newsstands in Guangzhou, which normally carry the paper. The paper appeared as normal in Beijing, carrying a cover story on the aftermath of a fire in an orphanage in central Henan province.

“It’s not coming today,” said one newspaper seller in a kiosk near the Southern Weekly’s headquarters in Guangzhou. “I don’t know why it wasn’t delivered,” he said, as a stream of early morning commuters bought other newspapers from his stand.

In Shanghai, two sections of the paper were missing — one focused on a new regulation on land reclamation and the other on “the dramatic changes” in reform.

When asked about the missing Guangzhou copies, a woman called Zhou at the Southern Weekly’s distribution office said: “Today’s paper has been published as normal, but may not have arrived at newspaper kiosks yet, which is also normal. It should be available for purchase within today”.

The Central Propaganda Department can force papers to run their government-line editorials, but even with the power vested in them by the Party, it can’t determine where those op-eds appear.

Like, say, next to a humongous ad for pesticide control.

As noticed by the one-man reporting machine John Kennedy, here’s how the Xiaoxiang Morning Post, a sibling publication of Southern Weekly under the Nanfang Media Group, chose to run the now-infamous Global Times editorial:

That’s not all, of course.

Via the same indispensable Twitter feed of John Kennedy, here’s how Beijing News handled the editorial — headline: “Global Times published an editorial about ‘the Southern Weekly incident.’”

It’s a perfectly snarky response to an iron-fisted directive, much like the acrostics that appeared earlier this week across various online portals to express support for Southern Weekly.

POSTSCRIPT: We’ll note again that it was a sad day in the Beijing News office last night, as its publisher, Dai Zigeng, verbally resigned instead of choosing to reign over the publication of GT’s editorial. People were reportedly crying over the incident:

Last night, in Beijing News office… journalists crying…pic via @何龍 # 昨晚的新京報辦公室，記者們哭了… pic.twitter.com/JAqCvbV1

— Yanr (@Liangyanr) January 9, 2013

Although there now seems to be a little confusion as to whether his resignation was accepted, or when it’ll be effective:

I just heard that Dai Zigeng is still the publisher of Beijing News. Talk of his departure was premature?

— Edward Wong (@comradewong) January 9, 2013

More details will surface soon, we’re sure.

(H/T China Digital Times)

As we await Southern Weekly’s fate, your recommended reading of the moment is Zhongnanhai’s piece “Southern Weekend, China, and the bubble.”

This brings me to the controversy surrounding Southern Weekend in Guangzhou, which is dominating China social media and news channels.  Indeed, it is a big story: journalists at the paper have gone on strike to protest censorship by Guangdong party propagandist Tuo Zhen (details here, if you haven’t been following along).  The idea of Chinese journalists standing up for the right to report freely is a great story, and if I were running a newspaper I’d want something on it.  The question is this: are we overstating the significance of the strike and/or misrepresenting what it’s about?

I bring this up because this isn’t the first time there’s been turmoil at Southern Weekend, or with news organizations in China.  It’s merely the latest.  Secondly, are the journalists at the paper really making a principled stand for free speech and denouncing censorship?

More than a few journalists and observers have averred the significance of the Southern Weekly “incident,” but the actual story has appeared to fall short of their expectations. As I wrote two days ago, “But is this really a watershed moment for media rights in China, as some hope… or will we return to our jobs soon and let the more vested parties enter negotiations on the future of both Tuo Zhen and Southern Weekly?” There’s nothing wrong with hoping, but as Zhongnanhai points out, sometimes we would do well to step back to view the story in its proper context.

The point is these stories… are popular and “the-most-important-thing” for a few days or weeks, then fade away to be replaced by the next big thing.  At no time do we get perspective about larger trends, nor are we shown how these individual incidents fit into a much larger timeline of societal change (or no change).

Perhaps after having lived in Greater China for 9 years (a mere blip compared to others, I humbly note), I’m becoming sadly apathetic when these stories appear; I’ve been hopeful, I thought I’ve seen change coming, the media tells us these are important events that could ‘change China’, yet they rarely – if ever – do. What we have is a big echo chamber of China news in newspapers, on television, websites, Twitter, and Facebook with little context.

So what does all of this mean for CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping and the future of China? Nothing, of course — or at least, we don’t know. China’s leadership is in a murky transitional limbo, with outgoing officials still in the fray and new ones yet to gain their footing (Xi Jinping himself, let’s remember, has yet to be inaugurated as China’s head of state). All of this is set against the normal amount of political opaqueness, so we can’t even say what “old” and “new” represent. China has perfected the art of misdirection and pseudology, making it difficult to trust any official statement, such as the one we got yesterday from a Nanfang Media Group representative. We’re all just along for the ride, our personal biases packed overhead, and yeah, we might hate it, so we speculate and loudly hanker for better times, but in the end, in one way or another, we’ll decathect to avoid the disappointment of seeing another day without the landmark reform we idealized. The train’s going fast, but it’s not getting there overnight.

(Zhongnanhai; photo: Reuters)

Via John Kennedy (twitter.com/28wordslater)

Two big Southern Weekly updates this morning. First, it appears the ripples have spread to Beijing News, a sibling publication to Southern Weekly under the ownership of Nanfang Media Group, where the top publisher has resigned instead of publishing a pro-government editorial. Shanghaiist reports:

Now, reporters at the Beijing News have revealed that Dai Zigeng (戴自更), the Communist Party official who served as the paper’s publisher, resigned late last night after propaganda authorities forced the paper to run the Global Times’ editorial in today’s edition. Other papers that also resisted the instruction to run the editorial report being pressured to do so today.

Some Beijing News reporters’ Sina Weibo accounts have apparently been shut down:

Beijing News reporters’ weibo accounts, paper shut down after it refused to reprint Global Times editorial on Southern Weekend via @mranti

— Liz (@withoutdoing) January 8, 2013

It was two days ago that the Central Propaganda Department ordered every major newspaper to republish Global Times’s editorial that stated, among other things, that Tuo Zhen was not involved in any editorial hijacking and that government oversight is a way of life for Chinese media. Beijing News’s resistance this time can only be interpreted as a principled stand in solidarity with their colleagues to the south.

Speaking of them: that incident appears to be winding down, as SCMP reports that a provincial party chief in Guangdong has successfully negotiated a return to work for Southern Weekly’s journalists:

A source close to the newspaper’s editorial staff said that Hu Chunhua, a rising political star who took up his new position as the province’s party secretary only last month, personally stepped into the talks between reporters and the management.

The stand-off would not escalate while the negotiations were continuing, the source said.

Another two sources, also close to the newspaper’s editorial staff, said reporters decided to return to work after meetings with management yesterday.

It appears to be a direct contradiction to what we heard late yesterday afternoon. SCMP again:

It said under Hu’s deal newspaper workers would end their strike and return to work, the paper would print as normal this week and most staff would not face punishment.

We would be wary of all non-official information at this moment. If indeed the Southern Weekly journalists are allowed to continue publishing under the Southern Weekly crest, it would be stunning in several ways.

According to an earlier Reuters article — before this apparent eleventh-hour agreement — some sources in Nanfang Media Group said the paper may be published Thursday, possibly with replacement editors. We’ll find out soon.

We just received a tip, one person removed, from the public relations office at the Nanfang Media Group that Southern Weekly has been cancelled. No new content will be published on the website or under the name “Southern Weekly” (also known as Southern Weekend).

The Nanfang Group’s PR staff, which has been sequestered inside their office building for the past two days, has been notified via internal memo and are currently preparing for the next step.

Nanfang Media owns 12 newspapers, including Southern Weekly, eight periodicals and one publishing house.

We’ll update when we learn more. The website as it stands now:

UDPDATE, 5:04 pm: A representative at the Nanfang Media Group, reached via phone, says the paper has not been cancelled “as of this time.”

UPDATE, 1/9, 10:04 pm: SCMP is reporting that reporters say they struck a deal to return to work and continue publishing: 

A source close to the newspaper’s editorial staff said that Hu Chunhua, a rising political star who took up his new position as the province’s party secretary only last month, personally stepped into the talks between reporters and the management.

The stand-off would not escalate while the negotiations were continuing, the source said.

Another two sources, also close to the newspaper’s editorial staff, said reporters decided to return to work after meetings with management yesterday.

Central Propaganda Department: Urgent Notice Concerning the Southern Weekly New Year’s Message Publication Incident: Responsible Party committees and media at all levels must be clear on three points related to this matter: (1) Party control of the media is an unwavering basic principle; (2) This mishap at Southern Weekly has nothing to do with Guangdong Propaganda Department Head Tuo Zhen; (3) External hostile forces are involved in the development of the situation. Every responsible work unit must demand that its department’s editors, reporters, and staff discontinue voicing their support for Southern Weekly online. Starting tomorrow, media and websites in all locales must prominently republish the Global Times editorial “Southern Weekly’s ‘Message to Readers’ Is Food for Thought Indeed.”

Just so we’re clear:

1. Party control of media is an unwavering basic principle;

2. Tuo Zhen had nothing to do with the Southern Weekly “mishap”;

3. Publish Global Times editorial;

4. And for pete’s sake, acrostics? Fucking acrostics, people? What are we, kindergarteners?!

UPDATE, 1/9, 4:59 pm: I guess no one specified where the editorial has to be run — like, say, next to a big pest extermination ad.

Ministry of Truth: Urgent Notice on Southern Weekly (China Digital Times)

We’re in the second day of censorship protests outside the offices of Southern Weekly in Guangzhou. Today: leftists have come to bat for the government, young men give speeches, and Chinese media rally to Southern Weekly’s cause in the only way they can.

Let’s start there. As noticed by John Kennedy of South China Morning Post, major news outlets embedded hidden messages of support for their media brethren in the form of acrostics:

As you might expect, the only folks in China allowed to editorialize on these protests are the propagandists and Global Times, who employs Hu Xijin. In GT’s latest, there is a baffling mention of Chen Guangcheng:

A closer look will find that former employees of the Southern Weekly and activists, including Chen Guangcheng, who is residing in US now, are among those who avidly promote the issue online.

Followed by:

Their campaign, ostensibly aiming at specific officials, actually targets China’s entire media system.

For media professionals, it is clear that under the reality of China’s current state of affairs, the country is unlikely to have the “absolutely free media” that is dreamed of by those activists.

The development of media must be in accordance with China’s own situation. Media reform must be a part of China’s entire reform process. There cannot be a “special political zone” set for media. The Southern Weekly issue will not be concluded with a surprise ending.

(Meanwhile, China Daily Show: “‘Global Times’ op-ed writer wishes he was on strike, too.”)

Moving on, here’s Kennedy again with a video of an impassioned young man making a hell of a speech for reform, democracy, and freedom of expression. (It’s still on Youku.)

Finally, as expected, anti-anti-censorship protesters are beginning to make their presence felt as well:

Leftists protest against "traitorous" Southern Weekend. Scuffle with supporters. Very small numbers of both. pic.twitter.com/nSiVWObh

— James Miles (@jarmiles) January 8, 2013

The rabble-rousers haven’t come to fisticuffs yet, but a scuffle was recorded by Wall Street Journal’s Paul Mozur, here, powered by Tout. You’ll see another short Tout in the accompanying WSJ article:

“Support the Communist Party, support Mao Zedong thought, support striking against the traitor media,” chanted a group of local government supporters, waving Chinese flags, as they approached the dozen or so Southern Weekly supporters who assembled Tuesday morning outside the newspaper’s headquarters.

…Supporters of the paper tore down a Chinese flag held up by pro-government demonstrators. One free speech advocate wore a Guy Fawkes mask, while others carried signs that called for protecting Southern Weekly. They waved 5 mao notes (equivalent to 50 cents in Chinese currency) at the government supporters, an allegation that they were paid to protest by local authorities. A shoving match between the sides quickly ensued.

UPDATE, 4:56 pm: Still waiting for official confirmation, but we have reason to believe Southern Weekly’s demise is imminent.

For the first time in more than 20 years, according to SCMP, a major newspapers’s editorial staff in China has gone on strike to protest government censorship.

They were on the streets this afternoon in Guangzhou, outside Southern Weekly’s offices, scattering chrysanthemums and other flowers, periodically chanting for democracy and human rights. It’s been basically peaceful and without incident. The best place to follow all the proceedings is at John Kennedy’s Twitter and live-blog for SCMP.

David Bandurski, who has also been closely following the incident, calls it “without a doubt one of the most important we will witness in China this year.”

But is this really a watershed moment for media rights in China, as some hope, or merely a campaign to remove one official, Tuo Zhen? That is to say, even if Tuo resigns as provincial minister of propaganda, what is our expectation that the next guy will be better? Will Southern Weekly be allowed a seat at the hiring table? What systemic change in procedure or oversight will placate our desire for “reform”? Has this become an issue of free speech, riding the swell of excitement of everyday people mingling with journalists on the streets, or will we return to our jobs soon and let the more vested parties enter negotiations on the future of both Tuo Zhen and Southern Weekly?

While we’re on the subject, let’s not forget about the liberal magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu, whose website was shut down on Friday (officials say because its registration ran out, and not at all due to its latest cover story on constitutional reform). Ian Johnson offers some perspective on NY Times:

Optimists say they hope the measures against the two publications were the result of recalcitrant officials appointed by the departing team of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, whose decade in power was marked by an overriding desire for stability. Many members of Mr. Xi’s team will not take office until the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in March, and it could take years for Mr. Xi to put allies into important positions of power.

“If Xi does not remove people and promote some officials, his new policies — if he has any — will be sunk by the old people,” said a senior editor at a top party newspaper who asked to remain anonymous because of the delicacy of the subject. “The conflicts between the old and the new have just emerged.”

Outgoing leaders doing all they can – all they can — to make sure their legacy isn’t tarnished in these next three months, before Xi Jinping officially takes the helm and undos all the damage of the past 10 years?

Stay tuned.

(The above image is via China Digital Times.) POSTSCRIPT, via SCMP:

Previously: Journalists Are Threatening Boycotts, Calling For Protests Over Southern Weekly Incident

Related: Southern Weekly Update: Speeches, Scuffles, Chen Guangcheng, And Acrostics (1/8, 2:51 pm)

It began as a strongly worded letter. When journalists at the Guangdong daily paper Southern Weekly returned to work on Thursday to find a section had been altered by a propagandist — headline changed, article replaced — they published an open letter demanding “an investigation into the incident.” They named names, in particular accusing Guangdong propaganda chief Tuo Zhen of editorial hijacking.

The letter turned into two letters, then three, and now we have a full-blown “incident.” As Alia of Offbeat China notes, labeling something an “incident” usually means things have gotten ugly. Editors have been fired, journalists have gone on strike, websites have been censored — and the chaos might have only just begun.

Let’s bring you up to speed.

After the initial letter, in which Southern Weekly editors said the propaganda department had “raped” its editorial autonomy, a second open letter began circulating and gathering signatures. As China Media Project reports:

A confirmed list of the first batch of signers, obtained by the China Media Project yesterday, included 98 signatures made before 10 p.m. on January 4. Signers included Ai Xiaoming (艾晓明), a popular professor at Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University, and Southern Metropolis Daily founder and former editor-in-chief Cheng Yizhong (程益中).

The second confirmed list of signers, those signing before 10 a.m. on January 5, included 458 names. Among them were well-known Chinese blogger Bei Feng (北风) and Cui Weiping (崔卫平), a professor at Beijing Film Academy and a frequent contributor to Southern Weekly.

This was followed by a third letter, penned by students at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, featuring three demands. Again, CMP:

1. That the Party leadership in Guangdong launches a thorough investigation of the causes of the incident, and that those responsible are handled according to the law.
2. That all internet posts and Weibo posts discussing this incident that have been blocked or deleted be reinstated, “respecting the expression of every differing opinion.”
3. That no action be taken to punish anyone who has voiced their opinion over the incident.

Already working in a noxious environment, apparently some journalists, scholars, and students have decided that there is a limit to the amount of censorship and bullshit they can tolerate. (Above, students from Nanjing Normal University hold signs that read “Go Southern Weekly.”)

Amid these developments, Global Times published a Chinese editorial asking for “calm” consideration. As translated by Fei Chang Dao:

The truth be told, many media outlets have had the experience of taking certain opinions from the government on important reports. Having the government provide certain specific instructions on important reports is one device that is woven into the fabric of China’s news management. Overall, China’s reporting is increasingly open, and the general trend is a gradual reduction in the specific instructions from the government, but at the same time, there has been no change in the larger structure of media management.

Of course, “Southern Weekly” was blocked from Sina Weibo searches. Worse, the publication’s editor was forced to hand over the account completely. Via Offbeat China:

风端, who is in charge of Southern Weekly’s new media management, claimed that the above announcement by Southern Weekly Weibo account was not by Southern Weekly:

“My announcement: I have already worked with general manager Mao Zheshang who also managed the paper’s new media business to turn in the password for Southern Weekly Weibo account. I’m no longer responsible for announcements or any other content published by that account. Thanks. Hope you can understand. By Wu Wei.”

And this:

Southern Weekly statement that its Weibo account was taken away was retweeted 21372 times in 13 minutes. Then the statement was gone.

— Guobin Yang (@Yangguobin) January 6, 2013

Journalists are now taking it to the next level: calling for “occupy” protests in Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai for tomorrow afternoon:

(In Beijing, 1 pm: North Third Ring Road, Shuguang Xili Jia, No. 6 Shijian International, Building 8, north building, Room 2008.)

As they say in this business: stay tuned.

UPDATE, 1/8, 3:29 pm: The protests happened.

Southern Weekly journalists were angry, and they’re letting the public know via an open letter. SCMP has the story:

They accused the propaganda office of “raping” the paper’s editorial autonomy. While recognising that the paper could not refuse to run the introductory message, they remained defiant, opening a microblog account and issuing an open letter – later removed – expressing their frustration. About 15 of them were subjected to restrictions on their use of microblogs after discussing the incident at work.

“We demand an investigation into the incident, which has seen proper editorial procedure severely violated and a major factual error printed,” the open letter said.

It is rare for mainland journalists to collectively and openly challenge the authorities, given that it might cost them their jobs or subject them to official harassment. But a journalist working at the paper said most editorial staff supported the action and were contemplating the next move, declining to say whether there would be a campaign to gather signatures.

The article had already gone through revisions before the propaganda office, still not satisfied, seized editorial control without telling anyone. Who needs reporters when you can do everything yourself?

Outrage at Guangdong newspaper forced to run party commentary (SCMP)