It is necessary to strictly supervise and strictly discipline. To conscientiously carry out the Rules and further strengthen the supervision of the ranks of news workers is an important responsibility of the Party and the government, and is an important guarantee of using correct public opinion to guide people's internal needs, and promote the healthy development of journalism.

It is necessary to strengthen self discipline and accept supervision. . . . [T]he promulgation of the Rules makes public the Party's demands regarding news work and those engaged in news work, what news reporters and editors should do and should not do, and what methods and behaviors are incorrect, and in this way encourage news workers to accept social supervision.

Safeguarding social stability, guaranteeing the interests of the masses, and regulating the normal order of news reporting and editing activities is an important responsibility of the press and publications executive department, and in order to carry out the effective implementation of the "Interim Rules Regarding the Administration of those Engaged in News Reporting and Editing," the provincial Press and Publication Office shall further strengthen its supervision and administration of all periodical publishers, news bureaus and news reporting and editing personnel in accordance with relevant laws and regulations . . . . We shall primarily investigate whether in recent years all newspaper publishers and news bureaus have worked to build up the ranks of news reporters and publishers and journalistic ethics, regulate news reporting behavior, supervise news reporter accreditation cards, and what primary methods they have adopted in implementing the Rules, the "Measures on the Administration of Journalist Accreditation Cards," and the "Measures on the Administration of Newspaper Bureaus."

The focus of our investigations and prosecutions shall be news organizations that expand the scope their assignment of journalist accreditation without prior authorization, or who engage in illegal behavior by copying journalist accreditation cards without permission, or utilizing expired journalist accreditation cards. . . . At the same time, our office will actively assist public security and commercial agencies in severely striking down and punishing illegal activities such as fake reporters illegal news bureaus.

In recent years, as the entire cultural market has opened up, new problems have appeared concurrently with development. One of the most important problems has been a constant increase in the quantity and type of illegal publications, which has caused severe chaos in the normal order of the cultural market. . . . Illegal periodicals are a very large threat. First, they violate rules and regulations on press and publications, they contravene national laws, and the activities they engage in are all-in-all illegal publishing activities. Second, for the most part these illegal publications operate to earn a profit, their contents are vulgar, they lack a sense of social responsibility, and they are full of pornography, terrorism, violence, and lies. One could say that illegal periodicals are the garbage of the cultural industry.

According to the "Regulations on the Administration of Publications" and the "Regulations on the Administration of Printing," promulgated by the State Council, no work unit or individual may engage in publishing, printing, or distributing of publications without having obtained authorization from the press and publication administration department.

• [R]igorously regulate the orderliness of publishing activities and the publishing market, and expand the scope of investigation and prosecution of major cases.
• Get a good hold on the importation of publications, and increase the scope of our attacks on the illegal importation of illegal publications.
• Establish an outstanding formal periodical online inquiry system, to make it convenient for the masses to make timely inquiries about and identification of illegal periodicals.
• [W]e shall also carry out amending and perfecting current laws and regulations with vague provisions, as well as local regulations that lack sufficiently harsh punishments, and unceasingly improve our ability to use the law as a means to restrain illegal periodical publishing activities.

Liu Yunshan [Member of the Political Bureau and Secretariat and Director of the Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department] pointed out that, the fundamental way to implement treatment of both the symptoms and the root cause of problems in the publishing market is to build perfected mechanisms for investigating and prosecuting in accordance with the law, enforcing law in a cooperative way, and comprehensively administering public order. It is necessary to have a complete grasp and proper utilization of legal weapons, to investigate and prosecute cases in a timely manner, and use the power of the law to intimidate criminals illegal publishing behavior.

Shi Zongyuan, Director of the General Administration of Press and Publication, Director of the National Copyright Office, and Deputy Chief of National "Sweep Away Pornography" and "Strike Down Illegal Publications" Task Force also spoke at the meeting. Throughout 2005 the work of "Sweeping Away Pornography" and "Striking Down Illegal Publications" will most heavily emphasize stopping, investigating, and confiscating illegal political publications.

According to incomplete statistics, as of today, throughout the city [authorities] have shut down a total of 325 street stands, and have collected 3,820,000 illegal publications of all kinds, including over 30,000 illegal political publications, and over 70,000 obscene and pornographic publications, worth a total of over 30,300,000 yuan.

According to statistics, as of today, throughout the city [authorities] have shut down a total of 110 street stands, and have tracked down 250,000 units of illegal and pirated publications, of which over 2,000 volumes were illegal political books and periodicals, over 3,000 volumes were pornographic and obscene books and periodicals, over 50,000 volumes were illegal and pirated books, and over 110,000 units were illegal and pirated electronic publications.

While monitoring postal merchandise, Xian customs uncovered 1,826 VCDs propandizing the "Falun Gong" evil cult mailed from places abroad like America, Japan, and Malaysia. They uncovered a batch of illegal political publications and propaganda materials with reactionary content, and were effective in preventing these illegal political publications from being disseminated in Xian. In 2004, [officials] city-wide confiscated over 260,000 volumes of illegal political publications, and 280,000 volumes of illegal pornographic publications.

According to reports, currently the publications market continues to have some outstanding problems. One of these is that there has been a clear increase in the illegal publications that foreign hostile forces are directing at our country.

From January through October 2004, the entire province mobilized over 38,500 personnel, investigated 9,142 publication markets, banned and shut down 585 illegal markets (collection and distribution centers), sanctioned 59 printing enterprises and banned and shut down 52 printers, imposed administrative sanctions in 225 cases of illegal publications, criminally punished over 6 cases, investigated and confiscated over 3,000,000 illegal publications (over 1,700,000 books, over 1,100,000 audio-visual products, and over 120,000 electronic publications), of these: 8,500 were illegal political publications, and 7,200 were Falun Gong and other foreign reactionary propaganda materials.

Throughout the history of the process of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, international and domestic hostile forces have incessantly used publications to carry out political and cultural infiltration of our country, attempting to create ideological chaos, disrupting our country's political quietude and social stability, and thereby achieve their political scheme of westernization and division. Therefore, "Sweeping Away Pornography" and "Striking Down Illegal Publications" is first of all an anti-infiltration and anti-subversion political struggle, it is necessary to strengthen the political power of the Party, the government, and our country. Therefore, while working, the Sichuan Province "Sweep Away Pornography" Office always puts the heaviest emphasis on investigating and prosecuting illegal political publications, and persists in stopping, investigating, and confiscating illegal political publications that carry out ideological and cultural infiltration and various types of fabrications, and smear and defame the leaders of our Party and our country. This year the Sichuan "Sweep Away Pornography" Office investigated and prosecuted five relatively large cases of illegal political publications, which represented one-third of all major cases in the province.

In 2004, our province, in accordance with the requirements of the central and provincial government's "2004 Action Plan Regarding 'Sweeping Away Pornography' and 'Striking Down Illegal Publications'," under the guidance of the important ideology of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the "Three Represents," and looking toward safeguarding our country's political stability, social stability and cultural security, has achieved important results in further increasing the scope of "Sweeping Away Pornography" and "Striking Down Illegal Publications" work: according to incomplete statistics, in 2004 42,400 law enforcement personnel were deployed around the province, and made 28,087 investigations of publication operation units, banned and shut down 2,248 illegal shops, investigated and prosecuted 85 illegal printing enterprises, banned and shut down 164 illegal printing enterprises, investigated and confiscated 3,275,025 illegal publications, which included 1,508,022 volumes of illegal books, 1,224,200 boxes of illegal audio-visual materials, and 542,820 boxes of illegal electronic publications. [Authorities] investigated and confiscated 4,772 volumes of illegal political books and periodicals, 2,860 illegal political audio-visual products, and over 200,000 "Falun Gong" evil cult propaganda materials. [Authorities] investigated and confiscated 26,900 pornographic publications (including books and audio-visual materials), and 3,000,994 copyright violating publications.

Seven main administration projects were organized. The first administration project was directed at illegal political publications. Our province always put the heaviest emphasis on stopping, investigating, and confiscating illegal political publications in "Sweeping Away Pornography" and "Striking Down Illegal Publications" work.

The focus of the first stages of planning [for 2005] is:

1. Strengthen market monitoring and supervision. Focus on screening, censoring, investigating, and prosecuting printing units' that undertake the printing of illegal publications, especially those that undertake the behavior of printing illegal political publications; as well as those conducting or participating in illegal publishing activities, and activities like selling banned and illegal publications.
2. Strengthen the scope of investigating and confiscating. Focus on investigating and confiscating illegal political publications, especially those publications that disseminate political rumors, produce ideological chaos, harm social stability, and "Falun Gong" and other evil cults, and incite division amongst the people, obscene and pornographic publications, and pirated publications, especially those pirated instructional and teaching materials, pirated reference books, and best sellers, influential works, etc. Ceaselessly improve publication market order.
3. Investigate and prosecute major cases. It is necessary to investigate and prosecute in accordance with the law criminals who produce and publish pornography, and to pursue administrative and criminal responsibilities. It is necessary to have breakthroughs in major cases, it is especially necessary to investigate and punish cases of illegal political publications and organized, large-scale illegal publication groups, and to destroy criminals' illegal publishing industries.

The general principles for online commentators can be summed up 16 words from the Opinion on Online Commentary Work Implementation: "Actively expand, strengthen supervision, pursue profit and avoid harm, act on our behalf."

Zhang Fenglin, Deputy Director of the Suqian municipal Propaganda Department spoke out: "faced with the information age, the Internet age, an important task and urgent duty has been set before us-how to take the initiative on getting a hold on Internet public opinion, and how to capture the high ground of Internet public opinion.

According to the "Opinion on Online Commentary Work Implementation," Suqian's municipal online commentator cadre will "tightly button up the central work and important policies of the municipal government . . . and will organize the development of online propaganda, direct the development on online commentary, and purposefully develop online guidance."

Jiangsu province convened a symposium on Internet supervision work, and the symposium emphasized: "carry out the strengthening of our province's Internet supervision work with a high sense of political responsibility, show your true colors in disposing of harmful information, and strengthen the occupation of the high ground of online public opinion and your ability to guide Internet public opinion." . . . [M]aterials distributed during the meeting, called on every city and area to strengthen their guidance of Internet public opinion, and the establishment of a cadre of online commentators was brought up at the meeting.

Based on search results, at the beginning of this year Jiangxi province's Dajiang Net began hiring a cadre of online commentators, and in the beginning of April its organization was complete. "A group of Internet users of high political quality, a relatively deep training in writing, and simultaneously having a certain news sensitivity, who will undertake the important duty to distribute commentary on the news to guide the orientation of public opinion."

Regarding "Internet commentators," one scholar of broadcasting opined that, because of China's current situation, Internet public opinion cannot be equated with people's will and situation, and it is necessary to carry out some regulation and control.

[W]hat we often refer to as "public opinion guidance" means being able to carry out effective control and guidance of the content disseminated by, and the direction of the flow of, public opinion. Every class, ruling party, and social group will make all types of public opinion control and guidance conform with the direction they require pursuant to their interests and volition.

Particularly in a situation where modern broadcast technology is developing and changing daily, and the use of Internet and other high level new broadcast technologies and methods is becoming more widespread, it is becoming more and more difficult to effectively use the method of "blocking criticism." Practice teaches that the truly effective method is to vigorously remove obstructions, and actively guide . . . .

Just as we have taken the initiative to emphasize that the work of newspapers, television, and radio must have a firm grasp on propaganda ideology work, we must also build up the emphasis on Internet public opinion propaganda in order to provide beneficial propaganda guarantees and public opinion support for overall reform, development, and stability.

In recent years the Internet has been a battlefield for the Communist Party's propaganda ideology work, and its utility has become increasingly clear.

Relevant agencies should strengthen management of the Internet and form an inter-connected, extremely efficient management of the Internet.

Because the masses are increasingly unsatisfied with their reality, and lack an appropriate outlet for relief, a large amount of emotional public opinion accumulates in society's dissemination spaces, and the technological characteristics of openness and virtual reality-nesss of the Internet provide emotional public opinion with an advantageous dissemination space, and therefore it seems that a large amount of emotional public opinion is disseminated on the Internet. This kind expression that includes opinions that are emotional is by its very nature not very correct, and added to the fact that its scope of influence is large and its speed of dissemination is fast, it represents a definite threat to social stability.

The voice of the virtual world and the public opinion on the Internet can only bear fruit when they reach the world of reality if they have undergone rational filtering.

Although in theory, people have the freedom to chose what information they receive via the Internet, in fact, when faced with this kind of vast "sea of information," choice becomes the choice of too many choices, and freedom becomes the non-freedom of too much freedom, Internet information then attains an empty state of surplus and overflow. Therefore, the utility of Internet inspectors in choosing information and guiding public opinion is very great.

Internet inspectors should be information providers, information guiders, and information regulators and supervisors, put up relevant subject or topics, attract those individual end-users to participate in the public discussion arena, utilize the free and animated Internet exchanges, timely news reports, and furthermore add exhaustive factual background materials, carry out conforming the disparate discussion arenas, in the process of exchanges guide the masses'' opinion, facilitate the formation of correct public opinion, and foster the audience's loyalty and good opinion of the Web site.

If we do not quickly carry out the clearing up of factual distortions and carry out the channeling of "emotional public opinion on the Internet," the it will incite irrational emotions of more of the masses who are unaware of the truth, and in the end it will lead to an increase in socially discordant factors.

It is necessary to increase the establishment of online propaganda cadres in order to focus emphasis on beneficial online public opinion.

Therefore, it is very necessary to further build up the online public opinion cadres, exert strong efforts to train the core strength of a group of Internet commentary, work hard to set up the authoritative reliability of Internet public opinion, and thereby strengthen mainstream expression, and reduce and even isolate non-mainstream expression. The core strength of this group of should have a strong sense of social responsibility, and at the same time should master the art of guiding, regulating, and controlling, and use the power and techniques of persuasion through expressing opinions to attain dominance over mainstream perspectives, and guide Internet opinion in the correct direction. In this way we will be able guide Internet users' thinking by using materials and perspectives that seek truth through the facts, and using expression that has insight, has a standpoint, a unique point of view and is rich in personality.

International and overseas spy organizations use the Internet as an important means to get intelligence; they frequently set online "traps" to obtain intelligence. Although we have set up "fire walls" and other measures to ward off such harmful information, there is some information we cannot "ward off" or "fend off."

The Internet has become a channel for dissemination of information and ideological culture, relied upon as a vehicle and battlefield, and like other ideology cultural battlefields, if correct, advanced and high-spirited things do not occupy it, then wrong, backward, and decadent things will occupy it. Therefore, a firm ideological "firewall" must strengthen "occupying" conciousness, and work hard to use advanced ideological culture to capture this ideological culture territory of this new battlefield of the Internet. First we must strengthen propaganda online, and make full use of this modern channel for dissemination to propagandize scientific theory, disseminate advanced culture, initiate scientific spirit, and carry forward a socially healthy atmosphere. Second, establish local area network work units, which should update and constantly improve the Internet's content in a timely manner, and make the local area networks lively, vigorous, high-spirited and absorbing. Once these tasks are accomplished, we may then use scientific and cultural information to resist dispirited and decadent information, and furthermore enable officers and troops to better maintain political firmness and ideological and moral purity under the influence of advanced ideology culture.