China Censors Obama's Speech

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Story here. BBC TV reported this yesterday (Wednesday), but I checked and don’t see this mentioned anywhere on the Board yet.

Excerpts: "The official Chinese translation of President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech was missing his references to communism and dissent, while a live broadcast on state television Wednesday quickly cut away to the anchor when the topic was mentioned.

"The Chinese translation of the speech, credited to the Web site of the official China Daily newspaper, was missing the word ‘communism’ in the first sentence. The paragraph with the sentence on dissent had been removed entirely.

“The censored version was carried by the state-run Xinhua News Agency and posted on popular online portals Sina and Sohu. Another portal, Netease, used a version without the paragraph mentioning communism, but retaining the part about dissent.”

2

Huh. Well, that’s in keeping with their previous attitudes regarding censorship. Shame, though.

3

Well, at least it’s better than North Korea. Last night on the news they showed how the inauguration was reported over there.

“Today America’s new president was sworn in. He delivered a speech.”

Seriously, that was it. No video, of course. What was notable, though, was how fast they released the news. Usually, they wait a few days.

4

I think it’s notable that the word “Pig”, or “fascist” didn’t find a home in that statement. :dubious:

5

And it seems Burma also censored Obama’s speech. Story here.

Excerpts: **A part of the speech that was cut was: “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

Burmese inside and outside the country circulated this part of the speech through the Internet and it was widely interpreted as a message to dictators, including Burma’s rulers.

A journalist in Rangoon said that Burma’s censorship board ordered the speech to be removed from the front page of The Voice, but it allowed the journal to publish stories and pictures of Obama in its inside pages.

Last week, the Agence-France Presse (AFP) news agency reported that the Burmese junta hopes that the new US president will change Washington’s tough policy toward the military regime and end the “misunderstandings” of the past.**