Self-censorship is Beijing's most effective gag on truth

Chang Ping says Beijing's authoritarian power is such that more and more international media wishing to work in China will begin to watch what they say and write, with truth the biggest casualty

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Published: 6:45pm, 10 Dec 2013Updated: 3:34am, 11 Dec 2013

A Western media company recently commissioned me to write an article but suggested that I do so under a different name. That's because articles with my name on are blocked on the internet by Chinese censors, and the company naturally wished to reach more readers on the mainland. Given these concerns, I am grateful the company still wanted me to write. Such is the power of the Communist Party in getting the international media to self-censor.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reporter Robert Hutton was barred from attending a press conference in Beijing with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Premier Li Keqiang . Although Cameron's office issued a statement of protest, and Cameron himself raised the matter with President Xi Jinping at a dinner, the Chinese stuck to the decision. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry even denied there was any problem, saying the arrangements were no different than before.

Bloomberg News won little sympathy from those in the media business, however. Many thought it deserved the put-down, after its editor-in-chief, Matthew Winkler, allegedly killed an investigative report on the financial relationships of Communist Party leaders for fear of reprisals from the Chinese authorities.

The news company's two websites - bloomberg.com and businessweek.com - have been blocked on the mainland since June, after it angered the government by publishing an article about the personal wealth of Xi's family. Its reporters have also been denied residency visas. So this time, the efforts by reporter Michael Forsythe, who was working on the latest article, were apparently not appreciated. Forsythe was suspended after news leaked of the self-censorship at Bloomberg; he later left the company.

After all that Bloomberg has done, who knew that it would continue to be a target of official ire? Others may laugh but Bloomberg editors won't find it so funny. No one can really say what the government would do in retaliation if the article was published.

In media reports on Bloomberg's decision to kill the story, Winkler apparently explained his decision to staff by comparing it to self-censorship in Nazi Germany, saying it would allow Bloomberg to avoid expulsion and continue reporting from inside China. Yet, soon after, men claiming to be plain-clothes police officers arrived at Bloomberg's bureaus in Beijing and Shanghai for unannounced "inspections". According to a report, one of the officers asked the company for an apology from Winkler for comparing China to Nazi-era Germany. Oh, the irony.