Technology

As the world prepares for the Olympic Games in Beijing, Chinese bloggers prepare to have their writings censored and deleted. China’s strict laws carefully monitor dissent, both online and in print media. However, unlike traditional media, citizen journalists using the web are finding clever ways to avoid the censors and bring their message to the world.

Reporters Without Borders, an international free press watchdog organization, has listed China among nations with a “very serious situation” for journalists. According to their annual report on China’s press censorship, authorities have launched a campaign against what it called “bogus journalists,” those without official credentials, and the crackdown has spread to the blogosphere. The report states, “The government announced several weeks later that it had identified 150 such “bogus journalists” and 300 unlicensed media…The GAPP took advantage of the campaign to file details of the almost 30,000 foreign journalists accredited for the Olympic Games.”

While many foreign correspondents are finding it difficult to operate in China, even harsher restrictions are placed on Chinese journalists. Internet service providers (ISPs) cooperate with the government to identify and censor the writings of dissidents. Those who defy the government or cover potentially embarrassing stories are regularly imprisoned, beaten, and intimidated by police. Reporters Without Borders details the conditions they face: “They frequently endure harsh prison conditions: They share overcrowded cells with criminals, are condemned to forced labour and are regularly beaten by their guards or by fellow prisoners. Ill-treatment is at its worst in the first weeks in custody when police try to extract confessions. At least 33 journalists were in prison in China as at 1st January 2008.”

Despite the potential risks involved, Chinese bloggers are still writing about the situation in their country. They are finding new, clever ways to beat the censors and get their message out the world. One censorship system is colloquially known as the “Great Firewall”, an automated system that monitors keywords and tracks down dissenting posts. Bloggers are using a web-based software system to easily encode their writings before posting.

A recent Wall Street Journal article explains the technique: “One recent strategy involves online software that flips sentences to read right to left instead of left to right, and vertically instead of horizontally.” While I hesitate to share the URL of the program that Chinese bloggers are using (so it won’t get shut down), I will include an image showing how the tool works.

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Others are beating the censors with Web 2.0 sites. One citizen journalist has resorted to “sharing snippets of information via Twitter, a kind of public instant-messaging feed that delivers information more quickly than censors can block it.”

As quickly as censors can detect, delete, and find the offending posts and bloggers, new writers, both professional and amateur, will take up the banner. Technology makes it possible for those without a voice to speak to the world, and Chinese journalists and bloggers are using it to its fullest advantage. With the Olympics just weeks away, it seems likely that both government censors and China’s reporters will step up their efforts.

By Haley January Eckels