Information is Power

China imposed broad new restrictions Sunday on the distribution of foreign news in the country, beefing up state regulations on the news media.

Under new rules that were said to take effect immediately, the state-run New China News Agency said it would become the de facto gatekeeper for foreign news reports, photographs and graphics entering China. The agency announced in its own dispatch that it would censor content that endangers “national security.”

This is via The New York Times.  This is just one in a series of measures implemented by the Chinese government to control the stories that appear in the media.  Essentially, there is a push to make sure media focuses on the positives and does not bring to the forefront ‘the other side’ of China’s miraculous economic growth.

Certainly, in such an environment, the Internet is a lucrative option for samizdat, but the government has a few tricks up its sleeve as well, controlling the flow of information online as well as in a more traditional media.  The new rules say that anything that endangers China’s national security, reputation, or interests will be controlled.  As one can imagine, virtually any news story can be put in that pot. 

I wonder how all this is going to play out ahead of the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing in 2008.  Will such an event put a spotlight on freedom of the media in the country, or will it be a few weeks of freedom after which everything will return to ‘normal’?  For now, one would conclude the government has figured out that information is power.  Control the flow of information and you have the power.