Concepts from Last Class

1. Concepts from Last Class Civil society Pluralism Corporatism 1

2. Debate over “Civil Society” Pluralist or Corporatist? • Civil society • A sphere of independent group activity • Autonomous from the state • Free from state domination • “Civil society” implies Pluralism • A system of interest representation in which • Any group can freely form • To express interests autonomous from state control • Corporatism • A system of interest representation in which • Only certain groups are licensed by the state • Accept limitations on their expression of interests

3. Practice question • China’s corporatist system of interest representation involves: • A Official recognition and licensing of approved social organizations in exchange for limitations on organizations’ demands and activities. • B Requirements for official government sponsorship, registration with civil affairs officials, and minimum registered capital requirements • C Permission for multiple, competing social organizations for students, workers, and other groups to exist in any given location. • D a and b. • E None of the above. • Correct answer: D

4. Nobel Peace Prize Winner • Liu Xiaobo • “God’s present to China” • “The internet has made it easier to obtain information, contact the outside world and submit articles to overseas media. It is like a super-engine that makes my writing spring out of a well. The internet is an information channel that the Chinese dictators cannot fully censor, allowing people to speak and communicate, and it offers a platform for spontaneous organisation.”

5. China Urges Europeans to Boycott Nobel Ceremony (NY Times 11/5/10) • Nicholas Bequelin • “The police know these people are not going to cause the collapse of the Communist Party, but this is all about information control.”

6. Media expansion 6 • TV and radio • Approx. 1,000 TV stations • Print • 2,035 newpapers (2003) (Liebman, p. 17) • Internet • 300 million internet users (1 in 4 Chinese) as of 2008 • Increase of 42% over 2007 • Largest # of users in world as of 2008 • 400 million users as of 2010 • World’s largest internet market

7. Debate over VIRTUAL Civil Society:Pluralist or Corporatist? 7 • Is the Internet a virtual civil society? • How autonomous? • Internet idealists vs. • Internet pessimists

8. Debate over VIRTUAL Civil Society:Pluralist or Corporatist? • Is the Internet a virtual civil society? • The Google Controversy

9. Addressing the debates • What is the role of the Internet specifically? • Specific debates: • Xiao (2008) argues that print and broadcast media are severely constrained but that the internet is not. • “Rising public opinion through online forums and blogs…are remaking the public agenda.” • “Newfound freedoms have developed in spite of stringent government efforts to control the medium… seriously eroding the party-state censorship mechanism.”

10. Addressing the debate • What is the role of the media in China’s governing system? • Can the media perform a watchdog function? • Specific debates: • Daniel Lynch (1999), Bruce Gilley (2004) argue that media commercialization has allowed for the loosening of the CCP's control • Zhao Yuezhi (1998), Ashley Esarey (2005) argue that media commercialization has only changed the forms of control utilized by the CCP

11. Reporters Without Borders’ 2005 Worldwide Press Freedom Index places China at 159 out of 167 countries 358 TV stations and 2,119 newspapers http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/imprisoned_06/imprisoned_06.html

12. A Banner Too Far: Bao Tong on the 17th Party Congress (Oct ’07) He wrote this essay, broadcast by Radio Free Asia's Mandarin service, from his Beijing home, where he has lived under house arrest since his release from jail in the wake of the 1989 student movement: • “Why is it that the crucial roles played by the media and the creative arts, that of exposing the dark side of our society, are now regarded as the epitome of treason, and are being choked off, one by one? Why has the publications inspection system which caused Marx such a headache been turned by Communist Party leaders into the art of maintaining power? • These and so many other similar questions are studiously avoided by the documents of the 17th Party Congress. They aren't raised, they aren't analyzed, and they aren't answered. The documents don't answer the question of how to turn this country into a genuine republic, not just in name only; neither do they address the question of how to ensure that ordinary citizens genuinely have the right to exercise state power.

13. Case 1: Wenchuan Earthquake, May 12, 2008 Case 2: Sun Zhigang Case 3: “Tabloid” journalism Bringing evidence to the debates

14. Political Aspects of Media Coverage following the Wenchuan Earthquake • Media coverage • Freedom vs. control • Nationalism • Double-edged sword • Trust in government and political legitimacy • Central vs. local governments

15. Media coverage: freedom vs. control following the Wenchuan Earthquake • Unprecedented “freedom” in media coverage of earthquake: How did it come about? • Natural—not man-made disaster • Sheer magnitude of the event • Initial break-down of standard controls • Subsequent loosening • Reassertion of control

16. Media coverage: freedom vs. control following the Wenchuan Earthquake • Media outlets under dual controls • Chinese Communist Party—sets content guidelines • Politburo • Propaganda Department • Chinese Government—controls licensing • State Council • General Administration of Press and Publication

17. Media coverage: freedom vs. control following the Wenchuan Earthquake • Jobs on the line • Personal responsibility for failures in censorship • Editors removed • Beijing News 2005 • Papers closed • “Freezing Point” 2006  Only one instance in immediate earthquake aftermath New Travel Weekly (Chongqing) • Publication suspended • Editor removed

18. Media coverage: freedom vs. control following the Wenchuan Earthquake • “Propaganda circulars” • Specific instructions on how to handle sensitive topics or specific news stories • Content from New China News Agency (ex: train derailment) • May 12: “No media is allowed to send reporters to the disaster zone.” • Editors recalled reporters or did not dispatch reporters • Some reporters went as individuals  no byline • Oriental Morning Post (Shanghai) 东方早报 • Others  led to “collective resistance” to prohibition • May 14: “Reporters going to the disaster zone must move about with rescue team.”

19. Media coverage: freedom vs. control • Reassertion of controls • Party-state promoted • Celebration of Premier Wen Jiabao • People’s Daily front page 1 week later • Government authority in quake zone • Liberation Daily front page May 21, 2008 • Get back to work • Sensitive issues suppressed • Allegations of corruption in school construction • Violent protests against local governments by parents of lost children

20. Media coverage: freedom vs. control following the Wenchuan Earthquake • Role of the Internet • Unseemly that the Olympic torch should continue in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake • Policy reversed

21. Nationalism in the media: Double-edged sword • Tremendous national spirit • “Go China!” 加油中国! • Ex: Donations • Money, blood, volunteer efforts • Anti-foreign sentiment • MacDonald’s • Criticized for paltry donation to relief effort • Minister of Commerce Chen Deming • Defending foreign corporations in China • Note also internet criticisms of Chinese corporations

22. Attempts to Promote Trust in Government and Political Legitimacy through the Media 5月13日 “我是温家宝爷爷，孩子们一定要挺住…” May 13 “ I’m Grandpa Wen Jiabao. Children [you] must hold on…” Trust in the central government Distrust in local government

23. Bringing Evidence to the Debates Case: Xiamen PX Factory

24. Xiamen PX Factory • PX Chemical Factory—relocated • Citizens in Xiamen • Worried about air pollution, smokestacks, poisonous gas • Let’s collectively take a walk, maybe we will meet a mayor who listens.

25. Bringing Evidence to the Debates Case: Shanghai Maglev Extension

26. Shanghai Maglev Extension Case • Citizens protest maglev extension January 6, 2008 • Middle class homeowners • Texting: collectively taking a walk 集体散步 • Blogging • Video posted on internet • Subsequently banned by Internet police • Southern Metropolis Daily (newspaper) • only Chinese media that reported this incident

27. Shanghai Maglev Extension Case • Citizen blog post • Mr. Zhou [a member of Shanghai government's evaluation team] mentioned ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) and said that this organization has reported that this is harmless and that is harmless. This is really strange. We ordinary citizens can also read English. What we have seen in ICNRP documents details all kinds of harmful effects of electric and magnetic radiation. A lot of research, including biological research and volunteered human subjects research, all showed enormous risks in such an environment.

28. Shanghai Maglev Extension Case • Southern Metropolis Daily • ‘Two days ago, the plan for the western extended line of the Maglev project began to be publicized. In order to peacefully express themselves, residents along the line came to People’s Square and expressed their opinion about Maglev line passing through their own neighborhood using the method of “taking a walk” and “shopping.” Citizens say: this is one way to express opinions.’

29. Shanghai Maglev Extension Case • Shanghai government’s official media site: EastNet • “There are people who want Shanghai in chaos. Now, some foreigners are playing up the Maglev project, spreading some malicious rumors. Some domestic people also follow them to make a fuss. Goodhearted people must not to fall into their trap.”

30. Shanghai Maglev Extension Case • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUXGiuydqiM&feature=player_embedded • Project withdrawn • Also resisted by Ministry of Railways

31. Case 2: Sun Zhigang Bringing Evidence to the Debates

32. Sun Zhigang case Landmark event now memorialized in the unofficial “Museum of Peasant Labor” in Beijing. “He died for us.”

33. Sun Zhigang case • Background • Household registration system (internal passport system) • Rural migrant workers require temporary resident permits to reside in cities • Apartheid like system • Abused by employers

34. Sun Zhigang • Personal details • 27-year college graduate in graphic design from Wuhan who went to Guangzhou to work • Picked up by police upon entering Internet café because he didn’t have a temporary residence permit or ID with him • Called friend to bring his ID

35. Sun Zhigang • “Custody and Repatriation (收容遣送) Center • In principle for homeless beggars • Authorized by State Council regulations • Used to harass migrant workers • Extort fines • Detain in squalid conditions

36. Sun Zhigang • Circumstances • Sun beaten to death in detention center (March 2003) • Likely for challenging detention • Media as (extra-legal) recourse • Parents notified of death three days later • Parents personally sought explanation from government bureaus in Guangzhou—with no results • Went to Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolitan Daily) when they couldn’t get answers • Reported story (April 2003)

37. Sun Zhigang • Internet as (extra-legal) recourse • Web sites picked up story • Led to outrage on bulletin boards, in chat rooms • Public discussion of “Custody and Repatriation System”

38. Sun Zhigang • Citizen petition to National People’s Congress on constitutionality • three individuals with Ph.D. degrees in law from Beijing University • re-examine the constitutionality of the 1982 “Measures for the Custody of Repatriation of Vagrant Beggars in the Cities.” • Administrative Punishment Law, Legislature Law • deprivation of a citizen’s freedom can be done only by laws passed by the National People’s Congress or its Standing Committee. • Not State Council or provincial regulations

39. ShourongQiansong system abolished and replaced by milder Measures for Internment and Deportation of Urban Vagrants and Beggars—not for migrant workers

40. What is behind the abolition? • Media and internet! C&R regulations abolished June 2003 However, NO reference to constitutionality

41. Sun Zhigang • Subsequent results • Those directly involved in Sun Zhigang’s beating death were tried in criminal court and sentenced to death (sentence commuted to life in prison) • Editors of Southern Metropolis Daily (南方都市报） subsequently removed from their positions on trumped up corruption charges

42. Bringing Evidence to the Debates Regulatory Framework

43. Background: Symbolic commitment to press freedom, free expression 43 • PRC Constitution • Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens • Article 35 • Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration. • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights • Article 19 • Freedom to seek, receive, impart information and ideas • China has signed but not ratified • What difference does this make—if any? • “Village Tyrant” • Southern Weekend reference to int’l coventions p. 61

44. Corporatist Controls:Entities Involved in Internet Regulation 44 • • Central Propaganda Department • • Department of Commerce • • Department of Telecommunications • • General Administration of Press and Publications • • Ministry of Culture • • Ministry of Information Industry • • Ministry of Public Security • • Public Security Bureau • • State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television • • State Council • • State Council Information Agency • • State Secrets Bureau

45. Corporatist and other controls 45 • Corporatist controls on the media and internet • Standard controls • Party membership • Nomenklatura of the Central Propaganda Department (replicated at lower levels) • CCTV, People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency • Double-hatting • Central Propaganda Department instructions • Propaganda circulars (PCs), specific instructions on how to handle sensitive topics or specific news stories for the media. • Content must come directly from national media organizations like Xinhua, People’s Daily, or CCTV

46. Corporatist and other controls 46 General Administration of Press and Publication Registration Newspapers, Internet Service Providers • Government sponsor—held responsible • Provide identity papers for editorial and technical staff • Reporters • Examination and licensing by state

47. Corporatist and other controls 47 Policing Special police unit Fines, shutdowns, detentions, arrests *stiff fines for violations * more than 60 Chinese serving prison sentences for Internet-based political crimes (HRW ’05) A public security official examines the identity of a Chinese surfer at an internet café (Lagerkvist 2010)

48. Corporatist and other controls 48 Content • Self monitoring • Must monitor content, prevent publication of prohibited material, remove and report any prohibited materials • Restricted content and likely targets • Threatens the unity, sovereignty, geographical integrity of the state  Uighurs, Indep East Turkestan; Tibetans; Taiwanese • Reveals state secrets, threatens state security, or harms national interests  state regulation • Propagates superstitution  falungong • Harms racial unity  • Threatens social morality  pornography

49. Corporatist and other controls 49 • Limitations • “state secrets” • Vague, ill-defined • Allows government discretion, manipulation • 1997 Penal Code • Article 105: penalizing those subverting the political power of the state • Public Security Administration Punishment Law • Article 25: detention of citizens spreading rumors that disturb public order • Jinan flood (Summer 2007)

50. Corporatist and other controls • General Administration of Press and Publication • government's main regulator of the press • March 10, 2010 • restrict media coverage of politically sensitive events • limit uncontrolled news reporting on China's fast-growing Internet. • new qualification exam for aspiring journalists • test them on their knowledge of • Chinese Communist Party journalism" and • Marxist views of news. • Journalists who do not pass the exam will not be allowed to apply for a job in the news industry.