Foggy_Bottom
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Not the first time China has done this. They did the same during the SARS epidemic and lied to the world about no such cases exiting in China. They even tried for the longest to say only 10,000 people died in the earthquake when it was 100,000. And now they trying to lie about how many died in the cruise ship.
They constantly hide and obfuscate the truth from their citizenry.
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China tries to censor a disaster - The Washington Post
THE TRAGIC sinking of a cruise ship on the Yangtze River on Monday night produced a reflexive reaction from China’s communist authorities: censorship. Within hours of the disaster, which left more than 440 people dead or missing, authorities were scrubbing the Internet of questions or comments about the Eastern Star and its passengers. News media were ordered not to send journalists to the scene, to recall those already there and to rely on the official state news and television agencies for their information. Instead of providing detailed accounts, those outlets focused their coverage on Premier Li Keqiang, who was portrayed as resolutely leading rescue efforts.
All of this was reminiscent of China’s handling of previous disasters, ranging from the 2003 SARS epidemic to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to a 2011 high-speed train crash. In fact, what has been distinctive so far about the cruise ship sinking is the way the regime of President Xi Jinping has outdone its recent predecessors in suppressing independent reporting and commentary. After the earthquake, local and foreign journalists were allowed to report relatively freely for several weeks — until some began focusing on shoddy school construction that could have contributed to the deaths of thousands of children. The train wreck was widely reported on social media, prompting outrage that led to the dismissal of senior railway officials.
Mr. Xi’s regime appears determined to head off such pressure for accountability by suppressing all independent reporting and commentary on the cruise ship from the start. According to reports by foreign journalists, roadblocks have been set up more than a mile from the scene of the sinking, near the county of Jianli. A report by a local newspaper about another ship that docked in the face of deteriorating weather Monday disappeared after it was cited by other media. While one group of foreign journalists was taken on a government-managed tour to see the sinking site, those seeking to report independently were blocked.
They constantly hide and obfuscate the truth from their citizenry.
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China tries to censor a disaster - The Washington Post
THE TRAGIC sinking of a cruise ship on the Yangtze River on Monday night produced a reflexive reaction from China’s communist authorities: censorship. Within hours of the disaster, which left more than 440 people dead or missing, authorities were scrubbing the Internet of questions or comments about the Eastern Star and its passengers. News media were ordered not to send journalists to the scene, to recall those already there and to rely on the official state news and television agencies for their information. Instead of providing detailed accounts, those outlets focused their coverage on Premier Li Keqiang, who was portrayed as resolutely leading rescue efforts.
All of this was reminiscent of China’s handling of previous disasters, ranging from the 2003 SARS epidemic to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to a 2011 high-speed train crash. In fact, what has been distinctive so far about the cruise ship sinking is the way the regime of President Xi Jinping has outdone its recent predecessors in suppressing independent reporting and commentary. After the earthquake, local and foreign journalists were allowed to report relatively freely for several weeks — until some began focusing on shoddy school construction that could have contributed to the deaths of thousands of children. The train wreck was widely reported on social media, prompting outrage that led to the dismissal of senior railway officials.
Mr. Xi’s regime appears determined to head off such pressure for accountability by suppressing all independent reporting and commentary on the cruise ship from the start. According to reports by foreign journalists, roadblocks have been set up more than a mile from the scene of the sinking, near the county of Jianli. A report by a local newspaper about another ship that docked in the face of deteriorating weather Monday disappeared after it was cited by other media. While one group of foreign journalists was taken on a government-managed tour to see the sinking site, those seeking to report independently were blocked.
