Is anyone really surprised by this?

[mickeyd]

Quote:

China has blocked access to the New York Times Web site, the newspaper said Saturday, days after the central government defended its right to censor online content it deems illegal.

Anyone that thinks that China was changed by the "openness" of last summer's Olympics in Beijing, has got to be scratching their head over this. After all, the NYT is not exactly FOX News.

China blocks access to New York Times Web site: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

[. . . Yrs to Go]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyd Anyone that thinks that China was changed by the "openness" of last summer's Olympics in Beijing, has got to be scratching their head over this.

Or more likely was not paying attention to the tight media censorship, near complete prohibition on demonstrations, and the detention of people filing for permits to demonstrate during the Olympics.

[dex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyd Anyone that thinks that China was changed by the "openness" of last summer's Olympics in Beijing, has got to be scratching their head over this. After all, the NYT is not exactly FOX News.

I've never heard someone say FOX News is more liberal than the NYT. Then again from the point of view of the Chinese central government it is.

[lets-retire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dex I've never heard someone say FOX News is more liberal than the NYT. Then again from the point of view of the Chinese central government it is.

I think the point was the NYT is more closely ideologically aligned with the plight of the Chinese than the evil right wing radicals at Fox news.

[dex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lets-retire I think the point was the NYT is more closely ideologically aligned with the plight of the Chinese than the evil right wing radicals at Fox news.

That is what is confusing - NYT for socialist policies and strong central government while Fox is for less government intrusion in citizen's life and for individual rights. So the Chinese Central Committee should like the NYT.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dex That is what is confusing - NYT for socialist policies and strong central government while Fox is for less government intrusion in citizen's life and for individual rights. So the Chinese Central Committee should like the NYT.

Really, it depends on the motive of China's government. If the Chinese would rather portray the Sino-American relations as adversarial, they'd likely prefer to expose their people to Fox than to the NYT.

[eridanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 Really, it depends on the motive of China's government. If the Chinese would rather portray the Sino-American relations as adversarial, they'd likely prefer to expose their people to Fox than to the NYT.

Or maybe it's because Fox News supports more heavy-handed Law and Order tactics, which the Chinese government fully supports as well. After all, the NYT is aligned (and reports on) Amnesty International, which isn't a friend of China.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/sp...hina.html?_r=1

[donheff]

On the other hand, the Chinese might prefer Fox since it reflects more of the stereotypes they use to portray US attitudes/policies.