Beijing propaganda chief hatches plan to combat age of internet news – China News

The Beijing propaganda bureau has taken control of two influential newspapers in the Chinese capital, prompting fears that they will be more strictly censored. Officials announced the move to reporters on the Beijing Times and the Beijing News - known for its bold reporting - at meetings on Friday afternoon.

In China, several political bodies are in charge of Internet content control. At the highest level, there is the Central Propaganda Department, which ensures that media and cultural content follows the official line as mandated by the CCP.

A powerful arm of China’s government said Wednesday that it had created a new central agency to regulate every corner of the nation’s vast Internet community, a move that appeared to complement a continuing crackdown on political dissidents and other social critics.

As China’s government doles out $584 billion to stimulate its ailing economy, critics inside and outside the Communist Party have pressed for details about the murky spending plan and demanded the right to follow the money.

The heads of China's leading information technology companies have pledged to censor internet content more strictly as the Communist party tries to tame a boisterous online media.

Under intense internal and external pressure to deal with the question of political reform, China’s ruling Communist Party gathered in Beijing and tried to shift the focus back to its five-year plan for ensuring more even growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

"The Great Cause of China’s Foundation", will be an epic, feature-length homage to Mao’s revolution starring every huge mainland star. 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the communist revolution and what better way to convince a country of a billion people that Mao was a good idea, than a huge cinematic spectacle that everyone will be dying to see.

"my favorite in recent weeks is the guidance issued by the Central Propaganda Bureau about Liu Zhijun, 58, the recently disgraced transportation minister who ran up nearly $300 billion in debt creating China’s bullet train bubb…er…network. The propaganda bureau has issued this frustratingly brief guidance: “All media are not to report or hype the news that Liu Zhijun had 18 mistresses.”

Beijing's Communist Party chief issued a veiled warning to Chinese Internet portal Sina over its Weibo microblogging service after a visit to the company's headquarters, a sign of the government's growing anxiety over Weibo's explosive growth and spreading influence that threatens the government's media controls.