Freedom of Speech and Press Not a Guarantee Around the World
posted by Brittany BauccioFriday, January 15th, 2010
As a public relations professional and former journalism major, I often take it for granted that scouring a variety of news outlets each morning is part of my job description. After all, I work in an environment where I’m encouraged to express myself through this very company blog.
Maybe that’s why I was so taken aback when I came across the Washington Post article, “China Faces Backlash from ‘Netizens’ if Google Leaves” regarding Google’s threat to shut down its Chinese Web site over censorship issues.
The report included commentary from a variety of Chinese citizens.
“This will make the extent of Chinese censorship a lot clearer even to ordinary Chinese people who are not aware of it,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, who runs an Internet research firm and a Web site, which has been blocked since July.
Zhou Shuguang, a blogger who has done investigative reporting across the country, said that, “the withdrawal from China will wake up more Chinese and make more people discover that China lacks freedom on the Internet and the government has very strong censorship online. There are no benefits to people at all if Google continues to make concessions with Chinese authorities.”
According the Washington Post report, “businesspeople in Beijing were pessimistic, as were many people at Google itself, about the prospect of a crack in what is known as the Great Firewall of China.”
“China can’t lose face over this, and it’s not going to let anybody run an open search engine,” said an industry source close to Google.
The report noted that, “This week alone the General Administration of Press and Publication boasted of taking down 136,000 non-registered Web sites and more than 1.5 million pieces of bad information this week”
While some friends working in other industries have shared that their companies block a few social networking sites, I can’t fathom not being a way to freely search Google.
The current censorship issue between the Chinese government and Google makes me especially appreciative of our first amendment rights.
