Institutions of Democratic Governance

Several media sources have carried reports regarding the Chinese government’s crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party, which convened on September 16 and concluded on September 19:

The June 16 edition of "Seeking Truth," the official journal of China's Communist Party, includes an editorial by Nan Zhenzhong, editor-in-chief of Xinhua. The editorial discusses "public opinion supervision" (yulun jiandu), a Communist Party doctrine that dictates how China's state controlled media is allowed to report on national affairs. Nan's editorial provides several insights into how Chinese authorities approach censorship of politically sensitive news reports:

The Party and the government use censorship as a tool to strengthen the Party's control

China's state-run news media must "take the standpoint of the Communist Party," "stabilize the emotions of cadres and the masses," emphasize "positive" and "constructive" reporting, and stop focusing on "exposes and scandals," according to a May 31 People's Daily editorial. The editors refer repeatedly to "public opinion supervision," which they claim is "an important characteristic in the progress of political civilization" that "increases governmental transparency" and "ensures administration in accordance with law."

Villages in Wuyi county, Zhejiang province, have implemented limited political reforms establishing citizen supervisory committees for village affairs, according to a Southern Weekend report. Although a positive development, both the restricted nature of these reforms and local government resistance to them are likely to constrain their effectiveness.

The publication Southern Weekend has reported that government agencies in several places in China have begun to employ "online commentators," apparently in an effort to manipulate public opinion on Internet forums and bulletin boards. According to a May 19 article entitled "Suqian: Practicing Guidance of Internet Public Opinion," Suqian, a city in Jiangsu province, has hired 26 "politically reliable" Communist Party propaganda officials and government spokespersons to "actively develop the guidance of public opinion at home, and work hard to establish Suqian's image abroad." Authorities have also established an "Online Commentary Supervision Office" and an "Internet News Management Office" pursuant to the recently promulgated "Opinion on Suqian Municipal Online Commentary Work Implementation," which is designed to "...implement day-to-day coordination of the ranks of online commentators..."

Hu Zhanfan, deputy director of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, has criticized hosts on China's domestic television entertainment programs, according to a June 25 Beijing Youth Daily article. The article cited Hu as saying he believes that problems with the programs arise partly as a result of the hosts' "political quality." Televisions hosts, like journalists and editors, are de facto employees of the government and serve at the government's discretion. Under these circumstances, a rebuke from a senior Chinese government official is equivalent to a warning to hosts to conform their political ideology to that of the Communist Party or face termination.

The Communist Party must "grasp public opinion guidance and correctly guide society's public opinion" to "lead the masses of people to establish a prosperous society," according to a People’s Daily editorial published last week. The piece offers the view that "various problems" could result if the Party does not focus on guiding public opinion, even though the development of mass media and the increasing speed of information dissemination has made doing so more difficult.

According to the People's Daily, at the 4th Plenum of the 16th Party Congress (which concluded last September), the Party decided to address this situation by emphasizing it is necessary to 'persist in the principle that the Party supervises the media, strengthen their ability to guide public opinion, and take the initiative in public opinion guidance work.'"

Xinhua has published an opinion piece entitled “How Do We Firmly Grasp Guidance of Public Opinion, and Strengthen Our Ability to Guide Public Opinion?” The State Council Information Office lists this piece as “Questions and Answers on Theory #61” on a section of their Web site dedicated to the Fourth Plenum of the 16th Communist Party Congress, which was held from September 16-19, 2004. The piece states that the Communist Party places enormous emphasis on controlling the media, particularly new forms of media such as the Internet and cell phones, in order to manipulate the opinions of Chinese citizens. Some excerpts: