Beijing Daily Newspaper Openly Criticizes Freedom of Speech
By chinafreepress.org (translation)
Jan 24, 2009 - 8:01:31 AM
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Beijing Daily Newspaper Openly Criticizes Freedom of Speech
by Xiao Xiong
Recently as many as 1,000 websites have been shutdown in an ongoing government campaign against free expression. And last week Beijing Daily published a pseudonymous opinion piece entitled: "The Social Responsibility of Free Speech." This article openly criticizes free speech: "There are people who are widely spreading the gospel of free speech, and even deifying it. This will result in absurd speech and even lies being protected as 'free speech.' This kind of deification without limit does not assume proper social responsibility." Shenzhen Special Economic Zone's Bright Daily (Jing Bao) newspaper and other mainstream mainland mouthpieces prominently reprinted this article on Wednesday January 21. This is illustrative of a nationwide official crackdown on the exercise of free speech.
It is reported that the writer of the opinion piece is Beijing Daily publisher and National Peoples Congress representative Mei Ning. This is the same person who, under the pen name Wen Feng on April 11, 2008 in the Beijing Evening News, published a harshly critical attack on Southern Metropolis Weekly Deputy Editor-in-Chief Chang Ping's article "Tibet: Truth and the Emotions of National Ethnic Minorities" calling it an "Out and out attack on China" and fiercely attacking Chang Ping as an "Anti-Chinese media spy." This attack resulted in Chang Ping being fired from his job.
Full Chinese report at:
Source: http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2009/01/200901221028.shtml © Copyright 2009 by Boxun News
