SHANGHAI - As the number of coronavirus infections in China continues to surge without any sign of slowing down, the Communist government has clamped down on the news media and the internet, signalling an effort to control the narrative about a crisis that has become a once-in-a-generation challenge for leaders in Beijing.
In recent days, both state-run news media and more commercially minded outlets have been told to focus on positive stories about virus relief efforts, according to three people at Chinese news organisations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal directives. The Chinese government has shifted its strategy for information control in response to the changing nature of the public's discontent, said King-wa Fu, an associate professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong.
"Now I understand," one person wrote on the social platform Weibo."The CDC's purpose all along was to publish research papers.""I'm so mad that I'm speechless," wrote another. The new curbs on information appeared to have been set in motion earlier this week, when China's leader Xi Jinping and other senior officials said at a meeting that they would"strengthen control over online media" as one of several measures to maintain social stability.
Fighting the coronavirus outbreak: As worries mount, the response scales up | Asian Insider | ST The official, Zhang Xiaoguo, said the department would make publicising the government's prevention-and-control campaign its"highest priority."