Social Media writers though they had the final say on whether an article was published. Boy!! were they wrong. There is active censorship on social media sites including deletion of what is to be considered outspoken commentators.
In a recent article of TeaLeafNation Ren Zhiqiang an outspoken businessmen in china with 13 million followers tweeted " Freedom of press and freedom of speech are rights given to the society and the people by the constitution; they are also symbols of human rights and freedom. Yet they have been pipe dreams without the rule of law, being seriously distorted and restricted. If truth is not allowed to be spoken, would truth disappear?"
This change occured after a article in Southern Weekend was changed. It appeared to be "watered down" The message was to call on China's constitution enabling citizens to "speak out about and critize goverment power. This triggered a revolt . It was reported in the Economists that petitions signed by dozens of journalists and staff at the newspaper . Reports have emerged of a compromise the staff would return and protests would stop in exhange for a promise by censors not to demand changes to stories. " The press is normally controlled by self censorship and official directives issued to the media. " But papers are still being censored. Will the press never have freedom of speech in China? It appears not.
CNN reported that "this is a direct attack and suppression of press freedom and the people's right to know the truth." Goverment censorship must stop. But can that truly ever happen when most media are owned by the state.
This is clearly another example of a ban on freedom of speech by the Chinese Goverment. Their actions prove that they are trying to control what people are able to hear and see in the media.