As a daughter of a Communist Party member, a 24-year-old Chinese UF student believes freedom of press is far from China’s horizon. Her name has been withheld for security.
Southern Weekly is considered the most influential newspaper to the liberal intellectuals of mainland China, said Tianle Zhang, a 24-year-old public relations graduate student.
Each year, the paper releases a New Year’s Eve issue. This year’s editorial brought tumult, vexation and discourse. The editorial, “China’s Dream, the Dream of Constitutionalism,” was a nod to a speech by the new party leader, Xi Jinping. He spoke of putting the “Chinese Dream” into practice, which he explained to be a more democratic government. The original content supporting liberalized press endured a series of cuts until it became a political edification of the party.
Representatives of the Central Propaganda Department are assigned publications to edit. But is unusual for them to publish their edits to the content without the editors’ consent, according to an article by China Media Project.
The incident snowballed into a written request from Southern Weekly journalists for the resignation of the official held responsible for the edits.
The tagline of the Guangzhou-based paper is “to understand China,” but now some Chinese UF students wonder if the paper has lost its voice.
Jing Jin, a 24-year-old journalism graduate student, said when she came to America, she was excited about the free press. But she said the U.S. has its own form of censorship.
“It may not be controlled by the government, but it is controlled by big companies who have the money to invest in programs,” she said.
Juan-Carlos Molleda, director of the UF Master of Art in Mass Communication - Global Strategic Communication program, said that in the past, the Chinese government controlled the flow of information by using the concept of harmony.
“For them, a society that is harmonious does not have conflict,” Molleda said.
For now, Chinese censorship is viewed as an obstacle, and students have embraced that reality.
Originally from Taiwan, Ming-Yu Yen is a 23-year-old public relations graduate student who, like many Chinese 20-somethings, believes censorship won’t stand in the way of information.
“If you create a wall,” Yen said, “we will break it.”
