number of obscene and pornographic links as part of an announced official crackdown
on obscene and pornographic content in January 2009. Google and Baidu were among
a total of 19 Web sites singled out for harmful, vulgar content available to minors,
including Sina.com, Sohu.com, Wangyi, and Tianya. 131
The Chinese constitution protects people’s right to criticize and make suggestions
to any state organ. 132 However, a few cases of alleged online defamation publicized
in Spring 2009 exemplify how the Internet is illuminating some of the complexities
of influence and power in the relationships between media, different levels of government, and citizens seeking justice.
Land requisitions for commercial development by local governments in China,
where farmers are often inadequately compensated for land and suffer significant losses
in income, are a common problem of poor governance and an inadequate legal system. 133 After petitions and other attempts to protect concerned farmers’ legal rights
had failed, Wu Baoquan and Wang Shuai were detained for their online criticism of
local government land seizures. 134 In 2007, Wu Baoquan had posted information and
conducted his own investigation about a land requisition in Ordos, Inner Mongolia,
where officials forced residents off their land in order to sell it to developers, earning
exorbitant profits while paying compensation well below market rates to the farmers. 135 Wu was tried twice for criminal defamation and ultimately his sentence was
increased to two years, although the same court that affirmed his conviction decided
to review his case in April 2009. 136
Wang Shuai was the author of a satirical blog post suggesting officials from his
hometown, Lingbao city in Henan province, had misappropriated funds for combating
drought by carrying out policies that actually encouraged drought in order to drive
down land values and justify paying farmers less compensation for requisitioning their
land. 137 He was detained in Shanghai by Lingbao officials on March 6, 2009, and
released on bail only after he signed a written confession and his family agreed to cut
down their fruit trees, reducing the compensation they would receive for their land. 138
As is often the case, it took media attention, this time through a story in a national
newspaper, the China Youth Daily, to spark the online public scrutiny that would influence the outcome of Wu’s case. In this instance, higher party officials issued an apology (from the Henan province chief of public security), compensated Wang for his
eight days in detention, and fired the local party secretary and punished three others
responsible for the unauthorized land requisition as well as demolishing crops and
buildings before compensation was paid. 139
Neither Wang nor Wu was a journalist using a professional platform to disseminate
information, but media were in large part responsible for exponentially expanding
public awareness and discourse on their detention and the problems underpinning
their cases.
462
China
on obscene and pornographic content in January 2009. Google and Baidu were among
a total of 19 Web sites singled out for harmful, vulgar content available to minors,
including Sina.com, Sohu.com, Wangyi, and Tianya. 131
The Chinese constitution protects people’s right to criticize and make suggestions
to any state organ. 132 However, a few cases of alleged online defamation publicized
in Spring 2009 exemplify how the Internet is illuminating some of the complexities
of influence and power in the relationships between media, different levels of government, and citizens seeking justice.
Land requisitions for commercial development by local governments in China,
where farmers are often inadequately compensated for land and suffer significant losses
in income, are a common problem of poor governance and an inadequate legal system. 133 After petitions and other attempts to protect concerned farmers’ legal rights
had failed, Wu Baoquan and Wang Shuai were detained for their online criticism of
local government land seizures. 134 In 2007, Wu Baoquan had posted information and
conducted his own investigation about a land requisition in Ordos, Inner Mongolia,
where officials forced residents off their land in order to sell it to developers, earning
exorbitant profits while paying compensation well below market rates to the farmers. 135 Wu was tried twice for criminal defamation and ultimately his sentence was
increased to two years, although the same court that affirmed his conviction decided
to review his case in April 2009. 136
Wang Shuai was the author of a satirical blog post suggesting officials from his
hometown, Lingbao city in Henan province, had misappropriated funds for combating
drought by carrying out policies that actually encouraged drought in order to drive
down land values and justify paying farmers less compensation for requisitioning their
land. 137 He was detained in Shanghai by Lingbao officials on March 6, 2009, and
released on bail only after he signed a written confession and his family agreed to cut
down their fruit trees, reducing the compensation they would receive for their land. 138
As is often the case, it took media attention, this time through a story in a national
newspaper, the China Youth Daily, to spark the online public scrutiny that would influence the outcome of Wu’s case. In this instance, higher party officials issued an apology (from the Henan province chief of public security), compensated Wang for his
eight days in detention, and fired the local party secretary and punished three others
responsible for the unauthorized land requisition as well as demolishing crops and
buildings before compensation was paid. 139
Neither Wang nor Wu was a journalist using a professional platform to disseminate
information, but media were in large part responsible for exponentially expanding
public awareness and discourse on their detention and the problems underpinning
their cases.
462
China