China Imposes Blackout on Train Wreck Coverage

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

BEIJING — After days of growing public fury over last month’s high-speed train crash and the government’s reaction, Chinese authorities have enacted a virtual news blackout on the disaster except for positive stories or information officially released by the government.

The sudden order from the Communist Party’s publicity department, handed down late Friday, forced newspaper editors to frantically tear up pages of their Saturday editions, replacing investigative articles and commentaries about the accident that killed 40 people in eastern China with cartoons or unrelated features. Major Internet portals removed links to news reports or videos related to the crash near Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, in which 192 people were also injured.

The government’s decision to muzzle the media followed a remarkable week of outpouring of online criticism of the government over the July 23 accident. For many in China, the train wreck has crystallized concerns about whether the government is sacrificing people’s lives and safety in pursuit of breakneck development and is cloaking its failures in secrecy or propaganda.

As it did in the last major scandal over health and safety, the tainted baby formula crisis of 2008, the government has moved aggressively to shut down an outcry that, if left unchecked, could spiral into social unrest beyond its control.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/world/asia/01crackdown.html?pagewanted=all

[lib2DaBone]

1. Almost as oppressive as the MSM in the USA....

Any day now David Gregory and Hannity will appear on Chinese Media..

[DreamSmoker]

2. America buys their parts

WE buy parts for rail systems from the Chinese..
They wouldn't want details of their mistakes Public..
It would mean Humiliation...
This is typical how they block any info when they don't have control.....

[madrchsod]

3. i used to make railroad parts..

but guys like me asked for decent working conditions and to much money for our broken bodies. so the companies went to taiwan and south korea and then it was india and china.

foreign workers can`t complain about their working conditions or seek payment for their broken bodies.