Week 4: Student Response to Discussion One and Two and Assignment

WednesdayOct 25 at 8:19pm

Manage Discussion Entry

China has garnered many dramatic and tragic headlines over the years. One that stands out is the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989, when troops opened fire on citizens protesting for democracy.

For this post, I chose a story from the Washington Post about China’s continuing censorship. Simon Denyer’s article on China’s control over the internet begins by quoting the first email message sent from China in 1987. The text read, “Across the Great Wall, we can reach every corner of the world. Next, he points out that a new wall of internet censorship was built, this time in cyberspace, nicknamed the Great Firewall of China (Denyer, 2017).

Denyer reports that China tightened its control over its digital community with a new Cybersecurity Law in June 2017. The new regulations provide the government with more power to control what her citizens say in private chat rooms. Companies that once provided private networks that enabled people to avoid censorship find themselves facing charges (Denyer, 2017).

Currently, in 2017, China was ranked desperately low on the World Press Freedom Index, 176 out of 180 ranked countries. The United States sits at number 43 on the index (Reporters, 2017). Forty-two nations ranked higher than the United States. Freedom of the press and freedom of speech is purposely built-in to our constitution as the first amendment ratified in 1791. Sometimes I think we all assume it was always the law in our country, but in truth is was deliberately added. The first ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights are something we should cling to and guard jealously.

A recent remark tweeted by President Trump concerning looking into licensing policies for new organizations that provide ‘fake news,' after accusing NBC of doing so, is troubling. His tweet, “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” he said. These should not be words uttered from the leader of our country entrusted with defending our liberties.

Though Denyers' article is not overtly political in nature, it has provided information that would no doubt resonate loudly with an average American with a high value for civil liberty, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.

In the United States, most people seem aware that what they say online is no longer confidential information, for the most part, we feel free to express our thoughts in a reasonable measure without censorship. Let’s keep it that way, shall we?

Bierman, N., Puzzanghera, J., & Bennett, B. (2017, October 11). Trump threatens NBC's broadcast licenses after critical stories. Retrieved October 25, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-trump-tweets-network-news-partisan-htmlstory.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Denyer, S., (2017, September 27). The walls are closing in: China finds new ways to tighten Internet controls. Retrieved October 25, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-walls-are-closing-in-chinafinds-new-ways-to-tighten-internet-controls/2017/09/26/2e0d3562-9ee6-11e7-b2a7-bc70b6f98089_story.html?utm_term=.c7eb56329c29 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Graber, D. A., & Dunnaway, J. (2015). Mass Media and American Politics (Ninth ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

Reporters Without Borders For Freedom of Information. (2017). 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Retrieved October 25, 2017, from https://rsf.org/en/ranking (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.