Southern Weekly

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Southern Weekly, also referred to as Southern Weekend (Chinese: 南方周末; Pinyin:Nánfāng Zhōumò), is a weekly newspaper based in Guangzhou, China, and is a sister publication of the newspaper Southern Daily (Chinese:南方日報). It is attached to the Southern Newspaper Media Group.

Southern Weekly, founded in 1984, has its head office is in Guangzhou, with news bureaux in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. It is printed simultaneously in many Chinese cities, and distributed to the whole of the Chinese mainland.

Circulation is more than 1.6 million copies, on average, which is said to be the biggest weekly circulation of any newspaper on the Chinese mainland. Thus it is considered as one of the most influential media outlets in China.

Southern Weekly is considered the most outspoken newspaper in China. It is strongly recommended by liberal intellectuals and is said to contribute to public democratic debate and the formation of civil society. The New York Times has described the Southern Weekend as "China's most influential liberal newspaper".[1]

In one of the many incidents of the paper running up against the authorities, in January 2013, the provincial propaganda authorities forced Southern Weekly to run a provided commentary glorifying the Chinese Communist Party in place of the paper's annual new year editorial, which had been a call for proper implementation of the country's constitution. Journalists on the paper publicly objected to this interference - which is an unusual occurrence in China - via Sina Weibo. The censorship order was believed to have come from provincial propaganda chief Tuo Zhen, a former vice-president of state-run Xinhua.[2][3]

On January 7, 2013, protesters gathered outside the newspaper's headquarters to support journalists on strike due to censorship.[4]

Big Events

2001 Liao Yiwu, the author of The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up, a book banned in China[5] which published conversations with China's poorest people, told Voice of America that Southern Weekly's editor-in-chief, deputy-editor-in-chief and director of the newsroom were all sacked for publishing a discussion he had about his book.

2002 Southern Weekly disclosed that a Project Hope leader embezzled large amounts of public funds. Hundreds of thousands of the newspapers were retrieved. The journalist who wrote this article, Fang Jinyu, was fired.

2005 Reportedly a large number of journalists quit their jobs to voice anger against the newly elected editor-in-chief, but later the Southern media group published a statement that said this was false information.

2007 In a national gathering that Southern Weekly held in Beijing Bayi Theater, Du Daozheng, the editor of a magazine called Yan Huang Chun Qiu, was awarded the most respectable Chinese media, but a central government propaganda office official called and ordered the award to be canceled. All related shots of the ceremony were also deleted.

2009 When Obama visited China in 2009, he rejected an interview with CCTV, but decided to talk to Southern Weekly. The Obama interview article was very bland, and avoided topics such as human rights and freedom of speech. It is alleged to have been censored by the government. Two big page sections were left blank, although journalists said that it was just an ad.

2013 the provincial propaganda authorities forced Southern Weekly to run a provided commentary glorifying the Chinese Communist Party in place of the paper's annual new year editorial, which had been a call for proper implementation of the country's constitution. Journalists on the paper publicly objected to this interference - which is an unusual occurrence in China - via Sina Weibo. The censorship order was believed to have come from provincial propaganda chief Tuo Zhen, a former vice-president of state-run Xinhua.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ Rosenthal, Elisabeth (24 March 2002). "Under Pressure, Chinese Newspaper Pulls Exposé on a Charity". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2008. 
  2. ↑ Outrage at Guangdong newspaper forced to run party commentary, SCMP, 4 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  3. ↑ Southern Weekly reporters confront China censors, BBC, 4 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  4. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/world/asia/supporters-back-strike-at-newspaper-in-china.html
  5. ↑ Linda Jaivin, The Underside of China's Prosperous Age, China Heritage Quarterly.
  6. ↑ Outrage at Guangdong newspaper forced to run party commentary, SCMP, 4 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  7. ↑ Southern Weekly reporters confront China censors, BBC, 4 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2012.

External links

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