Economic Times (India): China partially blacks out CNN, BBC

APá [ SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2002 09:09:53 PM ]

BEIJING: Exhibiting their usual sensitivity over topics considered taboo, Chinese authorities intermittently blacked out broadcasts by CNN and the BBC today on satellite feeds to hotels and foreign compounds in the capital.

The brief, strategically deployed disruptions were apparently intended to limit exposure to issues or comments considered politically explosive, although most ordinary Chinese lack access to such international news channels.

The disruptions came as Communist leaders hold a weeklong party congress that is expected to anoint a new generation of leaders, as senior leaders led by 76-year-old President and party secretary Jiang Zemin step aside. Security for such events is intense, a state-run local media have been instructed to limit controversial or negative news.

Authorities blocked CNN file footage of an interview with dissident Fang Jue and a brief mention of Falun Gong, banned by the government in 1999 [...] during a feature about the search among Chinese for spiritual solace amid the country's mad rush for material wealth, said CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Jai FlorCruz. [Editor's note: Falun Gong practitioners have higher spiritual pursuit, not seeking solace.]

He said the blacked-out segment, which lasted about 10 seconds, contained a mention that Falun Gong had attracted millions of followers before it was banned and showed footage of its members going through their exercise-meditation routines.

There were also reports that segments or parts of segments of BBC news broadcasts directed at Beijing viewers also had been blocked out since the Congress began Friday.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/comp/articleshow?artid=27881135

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