The New York Times reports today that China is restricting Internet access to many news websites and other pages with information on the situation in Tibet. How true is this for me and my neighbors here in Shandong Province? China’s internet service providers are not always unified in their censorship – when pages are blocked in Beijing, netizens in Shanghai or other regions can sometimes still see them or vice versa. Sometimes the censorship happens only for a few hours or only affects one ISP or the other.
China Tries to Thwart News Reports From Tibet – 18 March 2008 – NYTimes
The Chinese government is restricting foreign journalists from entering Tibet and neighboring areas, and blocking some news, video and Internet reports about the protests there from appearing inside China, according to journalists working here.
For the past few days, CNN, the BBC, Google News, Yahoo and YouTube have been blocked or have faced temporary blackouts or service disruptions in some parts of China. Some foreign journalists also say their e-mail service has been disrupted.
Such measures are not unusual here. China strictly censors news that appears in the Chinese media and occasionally disrupts the activities of international news organizations and foreign Web sites operating in China, particularly if the content they are distributing is deemed politically offensive to the government.
Today, Tuesday the 18th, I have no access to YouTube. I can easily visit New York Times, CNN, Google & Yahoo, Washington Post and other major news websites. Strangely, I can access BBC, which is almost always blocked. Maybe that is because the major headline at the moment reads, “China Premier Attacks Dalai Lama” and an IOC official states, “No Call for China Boycott.” Lonely Planet offers a bulletin board forum on their website with useful travel information to destinations all over the world. The Tibet branch was offering up inside reports from tourists in Lhasa and proved interesting reading this weekend, but now it is inaccessible. Global Voices’ China pages, which aggregate translated blog posts from across China are also being blocked. I hadn’t noticed any problems with my email accounts. I’m sure that Chinese language websites are being more closely monitored.
Sad but true, for me it is just another day with the Net Nanny and the Great Firewall…
**Never mind, BBC is indeed blocked, as usual. **
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m in Beijing. I think CNN is always accessible here. I have been reading CNN online for many years even though I think it mispresents China to the western world when it comes to Tibet.
There are always many news sources available, such as Reuters, Guardian, New York Times, Usatoday, Financial Times, etc. Chinese do listen to western voices, but the western world seems reluctant to listen to different voices. Understanding is not easy to achieve.
Hi Hang, Thanks for your comments.
Yes, it has been my experience that CNN is always available, but I don’t read it. CNN, for me, does not represent my views or the way I see the world.
I try to take information from as many sources as possible, and I try not to take for truth everything I read.
Since writing my blog posts about the Tibet situation I have recognized that there is a great deal of misrepresentation out there – and not only about China.
You should know that there are Westerners out there who do listen to different voices, who do want to see better media coverage. I am becoming very cynical, however, and I honestly believe that a “free press” is nearly impossible to find. Unfortunately, just as happens in every country in the world, there is a great deal of ignorance, complacency and plain disrespect out there.
Wish I could write more on this topic, but I am very, very busy lately!