The Great Firewall of China: The Click That Broke a Government's Grip
Li Datong, shown outside the China Youth Daily, challenged a plan to
dock reporters' pay if government officials took issue with their stories.
The speed and power of the Internet helped launch a campaign that
ultimately compelled a government retreat from the plan.
Image source: Philip P. Pan / The Washington Post
dock reporters' pay if government officials took issue with their stories.
The speed and power of the Internet helped launch a campaign that
ultimately compelled a government retreat from the plan.
Image source: Philip P. Pan / The Washington Post
Philip P. Pan writes in The Washington Post:
The top editors of the China Youth Daily were meeting in a conference room last August when their cell phones started buzzing quietly with text messages. One after another, they discreetly read the notes. Then they traded nervous glances.More here.
Colleagues were informing them that a senior editor in the room, Li Datong, had done something astonishing. Just before the meeting, Li had posted a blistering letter on the newspaper's computer system attacking the Communist Party's propaganda czars and a plan by the editor in chief to dock reporters' pay if their stories upset party officials.
No one told the editor in chief. For 90 minutes, he ran the meeting, oblivious to the political storm that was brewing. Then Li announced what he had done.
posted by Fergie @ 2/18/2006 08:55:00 PM
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