BBC “strongly condemned” China’s “deliberate” Blocking of Shortwave Service Broadcasts

The BBC has “strongly condemned” the “deliberate and co-ordinated” jamming of the BBC World Service by authorities in China.

On Monday the corporation issued a statement after receiving reports that its shortwave frequencies were being blocked in China.

‘Chinese still hacking us,’ says Wall Street Journal owner

Several U.S. media outlets experienced a massive wave of cyberattacks allegedly coming from the Chinese military over the last few months. While some newspapers have claimed that their networks are now safe, the Wall Street Journal may still be a victim of the online onslaught.

The newspaper’s owner Rupert Murdock tweeted today, “Chinese still hacking us, or were over weekend.”

The Wall Street Journal confirmed last week that it had been the target of cyberattacks in recent months because of its coverage of China. Apparently, hackers infiltrated the newspaper’s computer system through its Beijing bureau in order to monitor the paper’s coverage of the Far East country.

Cyber-attack on the NY Times Was Directed by the Communist Propaganda Department- Insider Says

A CCP top-level insider verified the cyber-attack on the New York Times was directed by the CCP Publicity Department.

Buxun.com reported on February 2nd that Beijing Top level revealed the cyber-attack on the New York Times was on the orders of Publicity Department network management office.

The message revealed that Liu Yunshan, Liu Qibao and the head of network management office Wang Chen were masterminds in the cyber attack.

Hong Kong Falls 4 Points in Annual World Press Freedom Index

Press freedom in Hong Kong took a blow this year, falling four points in Reporters Without Borders’ annual report.

The World Press Freedom Index measures “the freedom to produce and circulate accurate news and information.”

[Mak Yin-ting, Chairwoman of Hong Kong Journalist Association]:
“The deterioration of press freedom is very serious now. It has reached a critical point. It’s a significant time now to determine if Hong Kong is an independent place or if it’s turning into a place like mainland China’s lack of freedom.”

Chinese Hackers Attacked Washington Post’s Computers

A sophisticated cyberattack targeted The Washington Post in an operation that resembled intrusions against other major American news organizations and that company officials suspect was the work of Chinese hackers, people familiar with the incident said.

Post company officials confirmed the broad outlines of the infiltration, which was discovered in 2011 and first reported by an independent cybersecurity blog on Friday. But they did not elaborate on the circumstances, the duration of the intrusion or its apparent origin.

Chinese Hackers Attacked NY Times in the Past 4 Months

Chinese hackers have carried out attacks on The New York Times’ computer systems for the past four months, stealing account information and passwords of reporters and others who work at the U.S. paper, it said in a report this week.

The Times said that after “surreptitiously tracking” the hackers for a time, the paper’s computer security experts set up better defenses and then ultimately kicked them out of its networks. Customer accounts with the newspaper were not compromised, it said, citing its security experts.

CNN Blacked Out In China For Reporting On New York Times Hacking

The New York Times piece about the hacking attack that hit the paper from China is so radioactive there that CNN was blocked in the country when it reported on the story.

CNN International’s Hala Gorani was doing an interview about the piece, which reported that the Times had been targeted by hackers for four months in the wake of its exposes on Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister.

According to Gorani, all six minutes of her interview could not be seen.

Government-linked Hackers From China Hit U.S. Medias

WASHINGTON—Chinese hackers believed to have government links have been conducting wide-ranging electronic surveillance of media companies including The Wall Street Journal, apparently to spy on reporters covering China and other issues, people familiar with incidents said.

Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. said Thursday that the paper’s computer systems had been infiltrated by Chinese hackers, apparently to monitor its China coverage. New York Times Co. disclosed Wednesday night that its flagship newspaper also had been the victim of cyberspying.

China blocks magazine over Taiwan democracy report

A Chinese magazine dedicated to history has been forced to halt the release of a February issue that was to chronicle Taiwan’s democratic transformation, a Shanghai-based newspaper reported yesterday.

“National History” magazine, published by the state-run Chengdu Xianfeng Culture Media Co. based in Sichuan province, had compiled a series of articles authored by Taiwanese writers for a special February edition titled “Taiwan’s Foot,” the Oriental Daily News reported.

China Clamps Down on Microblogs, Requires Account Holders to Use Real Names

Netizens see a new rule requiring users to register with their real names as a bid to muzzle criticism.

New microblog rules requiring account holders to use their real names are being rolled out in two other major Chinese cities following the first clampdown on Twitter-like services in Beijing earlier this month.

Seven major websites in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, in the southern province of Guangdong, began on Thursday to ask new users to register with real names, the provincial publicity department said in a statement.

Chinese medias quiet on Ai Weiwei

While the twists and turns in the case of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and his tax demand are being closely followed by Western media, they are making no headlines in China.

Some 30,000 supporters have made small donations to Ai to help him pay a huge fine imposed by the authorities, which is seen by activists as part of a government effort to silence the outspoken artist.

But the official media have made almost no mention of the case in recent days.

A notable exception is the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, which has published commentaries in both Chinese and English questioning the level of domestic support for him.

Beijing Tiananmen Square self-immolation: where truth is swept away into a dustman’s cart

Even after nearly three years reporting in China, there is still something amazing about the fact that a man can set himself on fire in Tiananmen Square, in broad daylight, and then no one hears or says a word about it.

As it happens, the incident we report today that occurred on October 21st was witnessed by a Telegraph reader who photographed the aftermath and – after hearing nothing more about it – decided it was right to alert the wider world.

The picture shows several hundred people who must have also witnessed what happened after Mr Wang, a 42-year-old man from Huanggang in Hubei, set himself on fire in protest at a court judgment that, we must presume, he felt was so unfair his only recourse was to self-immolate.

Such incidents, which are not completely uncommon in China, reflect the frustration faced by ordinary people as they seek justice from a system of courts and government that offers little recourse to the weak.

The Xinhua News Agency Correspondent over Amorous Emails Leaves Canada On ‘scheduled vacation’

OTTAWA — The Chinese journalist at the centre of the furor over amorous emails from Conservative MP Bob Dechert has left Toronto and has returned to China, her supervisor says.

Xinhua News Agency correspondent Shi Rong went on a “scheduled vacation,” according to Zeng Hu, the state media agency’s North America bureau chief. Zeng said he didn’t know if Shi would be coming back to Toronto after her trip.

“She wanted to have a vacation for some time before,” Zeng said Thursday from the Xinhua bureau in New York City.

Zeng said he doesn’t know when Shi left but said he believes she went back to Beijing.

Emails allegedly hacked from Shi’s Gmail account revealed personal exchanges between her and Dechert, the MP for Mississauga-Erindale, Ont. The emails were forwarded to about 250 recipients on Shi’s contact list last week.

Chinese journalist wanted a divorce to continue relationship with Canadian MP, e-mail claims

A Chinese journalist wanted to get a divorce to pursue a relationship with Conservative MP Bob Dechert, an e-mail allegedly sent by the woman’s husband claims.

The person who hacked e-mails between the Mississauga MP and Xinhua News correspondent Shi Rong appended the note at the top of the package of e-mails, which were forwarded last week to 250 recipients on Shi’s contacts list.

“In order to love this MP, Shi Rong has not hesitated to ask to end her marriage while posted abroad,” the note said in Chinese. “This is the Shi Rong you should know about.“

Chinese security spies often placed in newsrooms around the world

BEIJING— China routinely places state security agents in Xinhua news bureaus around the world, according to a senior Chinese journalist.

Foreign correspondent jobs are appointed by the Ministry of State Security for set periods, and while they may write the occasional story, their job is intelligence gathering, he said on condition of anonymity.

The rare acknowledgement of the practice comes as debate continues in Ottawa about the relationship between Mississauga MP Bob Dechert and Xinhua News Agency’s Toronto bureau chief, Shi Rong.

Chinese general Jin Yinan’s sensitive spy talk leaked online

Footage of a Chinese general discussing sensitive spying cases has been leaked on to YouTube in what appears to be an embarrassing failure of secrecy for the usually tightlipped military.

It was not clear when or where Major General Jin Yinan made the comments and China’s defence ministry did not respond to questions about the video. Calls to the National Defence University, where Jin is a lecturer, went unanswered.

While some of the cases had been announced before, few details had been released, while others involving the military had been entirely secret.

China’s Communist Party Chief Warns Web Portal Over Chinese ‘Twitter’ Microblogging Service

(Foxnews)- Beijing’s Communist Party chief issued a veiled warning to Chinese internet portal Sina over its Weibo microblogging service after a visit to the company’s headquarters, a sign of the government’s growing anxiety over Weibo’s explosive growth and spreading influence that threatens the government’s media controls, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Internet companies should “step up the application and management of new technology and absolutely put an end to fake and misleading information,” Liu Qi, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and a member of the party’s powerful Politburo, told company executives during Monday’s visit according to state media.

Footage broadcast on state-run Beijing TV Tuesday showed Liu and dozens of officials touring the Sina offices and getting an introduction to Weibo from CEO Charles Chao. Also on hand were former Google China head Kai-Fu Lee and Beijing real estate mogul Pan Shiyi, two of the most influential users of the service with more than six million followers each.

China state-run military TV program shows cyber warfare against US entities (photo)

(Epochtimes)- A standard, even boring, piece of Chinese military propaganda screened in mid-July included what must have been an unintended but nevertheless damaging revelation: shots from a computer screen showing a Chinese military university is engaged in cyberwarfare against entities in the United States.

The documentary itself was otherwise meant as praise to the wisdom and judgment of Chinese military strategists, and a typical condemnation of the United States as an implacable aggressor in the cyber-realm. But the fleeting shots of an apparent China-based cyber-attack somehow made their way into the final cut.

The screenshots appear as B-roll footage in the documentary for six seconds—between 11:04 and 11:10 minutes—showing custom-built Chinese software apparently launching a cyber-attack against the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, by using a compromised IP address belonging to a United States university.

EXPOSED: A picture of the hacking software shown during the Chinese military program. The large writing at the top says "Select Attack Target." Next, the user can choose which IP address to attack from. The drop-down box is a list of Falun Gong websites, while the button on the left says "Attack."

Chinese magazine president and editor punished for citing historian

New York, August 19, 2011 (CPJ)–The demotion of a magazine president and suspension of an editor for an interview deemed critical of a Communist Party legend are the latest punitive steps taken by authorities against mainstream journalists in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Chen Zhong, president of the Guangzhou-based biweekly Nanfeng Chuang (Window on the South), was removed from his post, though not dismissed, and editor Zhao Lingmin was suspended during an internal meeting on Monday, international news reports said. These measures were related to Zhao’s July 25 interview with Taiwanese historian Tang Chi-hua, according to a letter the editor wrote to his colleagues that was published online by the Hong Kong University-based China Media Project.

Reporters Nearly Brawl With Chinese Officials During Joe Biden’s Beijing Speech

(Huffington Post)- American reporters on Joe Biden’s trip to China are reporting tensions with Chinese officials after they were shoved out of the vice president’s speeches on Thursday.

Biden was in China to talk economics with the largest holder of American debt after the U.S. debt agreement and the country’s credit rating downgrade. Reporters were scheduled to cover a welcome ceremony, and hear speeches by Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping and then Biden.

Biden was a few minutes into his speech when Chinese officials began directing reporters to the exits. Reporters insisted on staying, as their agreement had called for, but officials turned to bodily force to shove them out. According to the Los Angeles Times, Chinese officials locked arms and pushed forward in attempt to force reporters close to the exit.

Australia ABC keeps distance with China’s state-run media

(SMH)- THE ABC says its independence charter stops it getting too close to Chinese-state controlled media after its rival Sky News gained a strategic toehold in China in the contest for Australia Network.

Sky News has signed with China’s state television, CCTV, for live broadcasts into the world’s most populous market – a deal central to its pitch for the $223 million contract to run Australia’s overseas television service.

The promise of greater access in China was key to a panel of public servants in May judging Sky News the better bid over the ABC, only for the Gillard government to intervene before its final decision and to change the tender rules.

Revelations of accidents show China’s State censors lose their grip

BEIJING (The Ottawa Citizen)— Reports of a radiation leak on a nuclear submarine have led China to impose tight censorship on more than 1,000 Chinese-language websites, in a further sign that hardliners hold the upper hand in Beijing.

The defence ministry issued a curt denial that any accident had occurred but the Chinese public has lost faith in official pronouncements, after attempts to stop “negative” reporting of a recent rail disaster. Many citizens, hiding behind online anonymity, have accused the authorities of another coverup.

“Why not deny it earlier and why delete all the reports online?” one wrote.

Canadian embassy’s posting on fugitive Lai Changxing taken off Chinese Microblog site

        In the slow-evolving world of diplomacy, it may be the biggest innovation since the wax seal: social media that lets Canadian diplomats go around the censors to speak directly to, and hear from, the citizens of the world’s rising superpower.

Tired of having their message telegraphed (or not) through the muddying filter of China’s official media, the Canadian Embassy in Beijing opened an account on the popular Twitter-style social networking site Sina Weibo in June 2011. Rather than waiting for the next ministerial visit before issuing a bland statement, Embassy staff now post four or five items a day on Weibo – many of them inane or irreverent, all of them in Chinese.