harmful information on political and current affairs.’’ 76 Its closure was linked to its
status as the leading domestic circulator of Charter 08, 77 as it had already survived a
suspension in October 2007 during the Seventeenth Communist Party Congress and
the purging of multiple high-profile blogs. 78 By April 2009, Luo had migrated the site
as Bulloger.com to a server overseas, which was accessible only by proxy server and
‘‘unlikely ever to be allowed to exist in China.’’ 79
In addition to campaigns dedicated to ‘‘strict supervision’’ of online providers in
order to curb various types of ‘‘harmful’’ information, 80 the government has managed
to develop a relatively comprehensive strategy for managing online media. Since 2004,
when essays and articles posted online began to be restricted more systematically,
government supervision has evolved to rely largely on informal controls within official
structures and stringent formal regulation. Nevertheless, it has been a challenge for the
Chinese government to establish the same level of control over the Internet and online
media as it has over the traditional media, because of factors including the relative decentralization of government supervision, the scale and viral possibilities of content
available online, and the greater number of nonstate actors.
A major development in Chinese cyberspace since 2005 has been the flourishing
of online news media, which now rank among the top online activities and reached
234 million Internet users in 2008. 81 Not only do Chinese users cite the Internet as
their most important source for information, more important than television and
newspapers, but also the national information clearinghouse on information technology, the China Internet Network Information Center, acknowledges that ‘‘the
report[ing] of major events, such as the Olympics, has enabled network[ed] media to
stand on a par with mainstream media.’’ 82 Supervision of the media, previously executed primarily by the Propaganda Department of the CCP, has been split with the
SCIO, whose local branches have supervisory responsibility over Internet content. 83
As a result, most major online content providers and portals are registered in Beijing
and are managed by the Beijing Internet Information Administration Bureau under
the Beijing Information Office. Web sites and content providers have been reported
to operate with greater or lesser levels of freedom depending on where they are
registered. 84
Any organization transmitting content electronically about current politics, economic issues, and other public affairs must abide by the 2005 Provisions on the Administration of Internet News Information Services (‘‘Internet News Regulations’’). 85 These
regulations introduced a complex regulatory scheme with the result that only news
originating from state-supervised news outlets could be posted online. Governmentlicensed and authorized news agencies are limited to covering specific subjects
approved by the state, 86 but at least are allowed to conduct original reporting on ‘‘current events news information,’’ defined as ‘‘reporting and commentary relating to
politics, economics, military affairs, foreign affairs, and social and public affairs, as
China
457
status as the leading domestic circulator of Charter 08, 77 as it had already survived a
suspension in October 2007 during the Seventeenth Communist Party Congress and
the purging of multiple high-profile blogs. 78 By April 2009, Luo had migrated the site
as Bulloger.com to a server overseas, which was accessible only by proxy server and
‘‘unlikely ever to be allowed to exist in China.’’ 79
In addition to campaigns dedicated to ‘‘strict supervision’’ of online providers in
order to curb various types of ‘‘harmful’’ information, 80 the government has managed
to develop a relatively comprehensive strategy for managing online media. Since 2004,
when essays and articles posted online began to be restricted more systematically,
government supervision has evolved to rely largely on informal controls within official
structures and stringent formal regulation. Nevertheless, it has been a challenge for the
Chinese government to establish the same level of control over the Internet and online
media as it has over the traditional media, because of factors including the relative decentralization of government supervision, the scale and viral possibilities of content
available online, and the greater number of nonstate actors.
A major development in Chinese cyberspace since 2005 has been the flourishing
of online news media, which now rank among the top online activities and reached
234 million Internet users in 2008. 81 Not only do Chinese users cite the Internet as
their most important source for information, more important than television and
newspapers, but also the national information clearinghouse on information technology, the China Internet Network Information Center, acknowledges that ‘‘the
report[ing] of major events, such as the Olympics, has enabled network[ed] media to
stand on a par with mainstream media.’’ 82 Supervision of the media, previously executed primarily by the Propaganda Department of the CCP, has been split with the
SCIO, whose local branches have supervisory responsibility over Internet content. 83
As a result, most major online content providers and portals are registered in Beijing
and are managed by the Beijing Internet Information Administration Bureau under
the Beijing Information Office. Web sites and content providers have been reported
to operate with greater or lesser levels of freedom depending on where they are
registered. 84
Any organization transmitting content electronically about current politics, economic issues, and other public affairs must abide by the 2005 Provisions on the Administration of Internet News Information Services (‘‘Internet News Regulations’’). 85 These
regulations introduced a complex regulatory scheme with the result that only news
originating from state-supervised news outlets could be posted online. Governmentlicensed and authorized news agencies are limited to covering specific subjects
approved by the state, 86 but at least are allowed to conduct original reporting on ‘‘current events news information,’’ defined as ‘‘reporting and commentary relating to
politics, economics, military affairs, foreign affairs, and social and public affairs, as
China
457