The Chinese Propaganda Machine Tried To Stop Negative Coverage Of This Weekend's Deadly Beijing Floods
Widespread flooding in Beijing over the weekend is said to have killed at least 37. Unsurprisingly, after the floods the Chinese government wanted to keep negative messages under wraps.
Here's an (alleged) censorship instruction from the weekend, published by China Digital Times:
Beijing Municipal Committee Department of Propaganda: For public opinion guidance (舆论引导) concerning yesterday’s rainstorms, all media outlets, including central news organizations, must emphasize the power of human compassion over the elements. All Youth League committees and branches must coordinate positive reports and information on the storm in their commentaries, forum posts, and reprints of articles. Public Weibo accounts, accounts of individual Youth League members and newly registered accounts must all complete report forms.
北京市委宣传部：关于昨日北京暴雨的舆论引导，要多报道暴雨无情人有情，包括中央媒体也要执行。各团委、团支部：对北京暴雨的正面报道和消息，组织好评论、跟帖、转发工作，已登记的公开微博用户及团员个人用户ID、新注册用户账号均需做好汇报表格。
Beijing Municipal News Office: Do not report on the collapse of the subway. (The floods caused the Jintai Road construction site on Line 6 to cave in [zh].)
北京市委新闻办：地铁塌方不能报道。
Beijing Municipal Office of Internet Propaganda Management: Remove Li Chengpeng’s essay “Totem”.
北京市互联网宣传管理办公室：李承鹏的《图腾》一文必须删除。
The censorship didn't seem to work out completely, however, and posts criticizing Beijing's infrastructure soon went viral on Weibo, with many comments overtly attacking the Chinese government.
Even state media outlets like Xinhua and the Global Times were soon criticizing Beijing's underdeveloped sewage system.
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