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The death of a news censor

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In a pointed reminder of the complex relationship between control and its subversion in China’s media, many professional journalists today mourned the passing of Zeng Li (曾礼), affectionately known as “Old Zeng,” a man who served as a “content examiner” (审读员) at Southern Weekly but also played a crucial role in the paper’s fight against overbearing censorship policies earlier this year.

Zeng Li passed away on April 3, just days after his retirement from Southern Weekly, a paper known for its strong independent streak in a tightly controlled media environment. He was 61 years old.


[ABOVE: Zeng Li, an "unusual news examiner" who played an important role in the Southern Weekly incident in January 2013.]

Journalists, writers and others took to Chinese social media, chatrooms and other forums to remember Zeng Li, his character and his contributions. They also widely circulated a copy of Zeng’s farewell letter, in which he looked back fondly but with some remorse on his time at Southern Weekly:

Zeng had served as a content examiner at Southern Weekly since 2008, when authorities tried to reign outspoken newspapers in the Southern Daily Group, including Southern Weekly and Southern Metropolis Daily, by instituting a new system of prior censorship. For this purpose, a group of “old comrades,” including Zeng, were brought onboard and tasked with reviewing content ahead of publication.

In the midst of the Southern Weekly incident in January this year, when staff openly protested rigorous prior censorship and sought to defend the paper’s legacy, a blog post by Zeng Li called “Who Revised the New Year’s Greeting at Southern Weekly?” was instrumental in bringing the ugliness of these censorship tactics to light.

Responding to the news of Zeng’s death, China Media Project director Qian Gang (钱钢), a former managing editor at Southern Weekly, wrote on Sina Weibo and Facebook today:

“There is no longevity for the good,” one user wailed with a weeping emoticon.

Writer and journalist Xia Yu (夏榆) wrote in response to Qian Gang’s post:

Weng Sizai (翁思再), a veteran journalist and a researcher at East China Normal University, wrote: “I read his blog post in the midst of the Southern Weekly incident. What a pity!”

Zhu Yong (祝勇), a reporter at Southern Metropolis Daily, wrote: “What a great pity! When he came out of retirement I really felt we had one more voice for freedom.”

Lei Lei (雷磊), a reporter at Southern Weekly, wrote on Sina Weibo:

“His life was closely connected with Southern Weekly,” said one commenter on the post.

2013-04-04 01:36:08

Source: http://cmp.hku.hk/2013/04/04/32390/


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