CHINA: State-run internet news sites have joined the ranks of the "Net Nannies" guarding the "Great Firewall" of China by responding to a patriotic call for tighter control of the web with pledges to "self-censor".
The websites of China's main publications, including state news agency Xinhua, China Daily and the People's Daily, agreed to attack "indecency" on the web and eradicate pornography and violence.
The language of the reports was fervently patriotic as Xinhua proudly reported how 11 news websites had "vehemently" supported a new initiative by the state-run media to censor themselves.
"Chinese websites are capable and confident of resisting indecent internet content," it said. China has 700,000 portals and 111 million internet users and the government is said to have 40,000 officials monitoring the web.
Working out of internet cafes, offices, university dormitories, offices and tiny apartments all over China, bloggers are the current focus of government attentions. Literate, unruly, opinionated and quirky and with strange names like "Anti" and "Massage Crème", blogs are the most widely available and widely used, form of free expression that China has ever seen.
"Before the internet, there was no public space to articulate individual political opinion. What was one to do? Write a letter to a newspaper? Or publish your own book?" said Roland Soong, whose EastSouthWestNorth website is widely considered the most influential in the Chinese language.
Premier Wen Jiabao's comments on the internet after this year's annual parliament shows how Beijing acknowledges the importance of the web for boosting China's interests.
"Websites should convey correct information, rather than mislead people and bring negative impact on the social order," he said.
The website of Michael Anti, an outspoken political blogger, was shut under government orders in December and internet writers have been jailed over the sensitive content of e-mails and postings.
In March, a Chinese court jailed teacher Ren Ziyuan for 10 years for publishing anti-government views online, while Li Jianping was charged over postings on overseas Chinese websites.
The official government view is that the blogosphere offers both a great opportunity but can also be a hothouse of subversive thought and the Communist Party's propaganda department has stepped up operations at "Office 1106", an organisation which trawls cyberspace for subversion.
Online forums are still more popular and influential than blogs in China, but both platforms have allowed Chinese people unprecedented levels of freedom of expression.
"Blogs are an important part of a sea change to a more open society. But will they bring revolution? I don't think so," said Jeremy Goldkorn, who runs a website about media and advertising in China called Danwei, which closely follows the rise of websites and other trends on the Chinese internet.
"Aside from a few activists, most people don't really care about censorship. My impression is that the blocks and filters are seen as an annoyance by most Chinese internet users, not as a huge problem," said Goldkorn.
Earlier this month, 14 Beijing-based portals including Yahoo's Chinese website, Sina.com, Sohu.com and Baidu.com, said in a joint proposal they were blocking "unhealthy" content.
Xinhua said the websites had pledged to play a leading role in self-censoring internet content in line with Hu Jintao's new concept of socialist morality, called the "Eight Honors and Disgraces". "We will make the internet a vital publisher of scientific theories . . . and promote the building of a socialist harmonious society," the websites pledged.
Another group which has agreed to censor itself in China, Google, expects substantial revenue growth in China. The internet giant came under fire back in February from human rights activists for agreeing to block links about sensitive topics, such as the bloody 1989 crackdown on demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Google executives said yesterday opting for self-censorship was a tough decision, but the lesser of two evils for the firm's progress in China.
The Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, hailed the self-censorship initiative by the state-run groups.
"The mainstream of China's websites are healthy and positive. Only a handful of portals are sabotaging the interests of the people and the country," it said in an editorial.