Censorship Research Articles

A critical discourse analysis of women’s roles as mistresses in Chinese corruption news coverage

The terms ‘mistress’ or ‘second wife’, translated as qingfu, ernai, xiaosan, have become widely used in Chinese media in recent years. This study employs critical discourse analysis to examine how the mistress/second wife is represented in Chinese corruption news coverage. In particular, this paper analyses thirty seven articles focusing on cadre-mistress relationships that were published on mainstream commercial websites (Ifeng, NetEase, Sina, and Sohu) between 2013 and 2017. The findings of this analysis show that the framing of the mistresses/second wives in these articles follows media censorship and selectively appeals to the public’s negative perception of them. Specifically, the findings reveal that mistresses of corrupt male cadres are afforded no respect in corruption news coverage, and are instead portrayed as ‘toys’ of the cadres who are ‘partners’ in their corruption. Furthermore, this paper’s analysis of the sociocultural context that gives rise to such discourses demonstrates the key role played by social inequalities and gender inequalities in the post-reform era. This study contributes to the literature by illustrating how mistress–cadre relationships are governed by gender inequalities in job opportunities, career development, and income levels, social inequalities in the distribution of wealth and resources, and cultural norms relating to discrimination against concubines. Thus, such relationships cannot be eliminated via public censure.

"Positive Energy"

The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a worldwide public health crisis. In such times of crisis, access to relevant and accurate information is critical. For many people in China, domestic social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo have become dominant sources of COVID-19-related information and news. People have to evaluate the trustworthiness of COVID-19-related information and make sharing decisions using platforms that have to contend with government censorship policies, astroturfers, and other government interventions. We interviewed 33 Chinese WeChat users to understand how individuals were seeking COVID-19-related information and how they identified and evaluated specific COVID-19-related misinformation. This work exposes how COVID-19-related content with "positive energy" was prevalent on social media in China. A significant number of interviewees exhibited a willingness to prioritize information valence over veracity when evaluating and sharing content with others. Further, the work revealed how Chinese citizens' understanding of information ecosystems played an important role in their attitudes towards censorship and official media, and also influenced their evaluation of domestic and international information during a global crisis.

‘Taken by the Devil’: The Censorship of Frank Wedekind and Alban Berg’s Lulu. By Margaret Notley

<i>‘Taken by the Devil’: The Censorship of Frank Wedekind and Alban Berg’s</i> Lulu. By Margaret Notley

THE Anxiety of Authenticity: THE Historical Reception of Broken Blossoms (1919), Shanghai Express (1932) and The Good Earth (1937) in China

This article analyses the authenticity principles connected to Hollywood’s portrayal of China and the Chinese through three important American films screened or banned in China – Broken Blossoms (1919), Shanghai Express (1932), and The Good Earth (1937) – but with a special focus on both the historical reception and censorship of these films within China itself. It is argued that the feeling of (in)authenticity played an important role in Chinese audiences’ appreciation of Hollywood narratives about the Chinese. Rather than focusing on the realistic or unrealistic depiction of the films, it is more effective to consider authenticity as a felt experience of emotional engagement and deeply felt sensuality. The felt authenticity signifies different constructed experiences and views which are rooted in different cultures and societies. The frequent appearance of ‘Chinese’ in American films produced in the first half of twentieth century had a ripple effect that impacted the Chinese public’s own self-perception and self-recognition. The yearning for authenticity – expressed in the form of the government's censorship standards and procedures, as well as widespread protest in Chinese communities domestically and abroad – connected profoundly to the emerging sense of national identity.

Burning through censorship

Burning through censorship

Censorship? Hardly

Censorship? Hardly

The Press Bureau, ‘D’ Notices, and Official Control of the British Press's Record of the First World War

AbstractConcerns about fake news and media manipulation are commonplace in contemporary society, and, throughout the twentieth century, historians regularly presented the First World War as an era of manipulated public messages. Yet, despite broad statements about the impact of press censorship in First World War Britain, publication of an official history of the ‘D’ notice system, and growing revision of historical understanding of the interaction between the state, the press, propaganda, and the public during the war, no thorough assessment of the content of the D notices issued by the Press Bureau to newspaper editors has been undertaken. This article provides a thorough analysis of the more than seven hundred notices issued during the war years. While drawing attention to several exceptions which exceeded plausible claims of a threat to security, it argues that most notices genuinely sought to protect potentially dangerous information and that casual assumptions about misleading state press management are not borne out by a close reading of the actual notices issued.

The forbidden thoughts dimension and psychiatric comorbidities in a large sample of OCD patients: A possible link to bipolar I comorbid disorder

ObjectiveMany theoretical models have been proposed to identify groups of patients affected by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and the most studied model categorized OCD into different classes according to symptom dimensions. The aims of this study were to evaluate the association between the lifetime presence of Forbidden Thoughts (FT) symptoms and lifetime psychiatric comorbidities and to examine socio-demographic and other clinical features related to the lifetime presence of FT in a large naturalistic sample. MethodsThe sample is composed of adult OCD patients from a tertiary center. The sample was divided into two subgroups according to the lifetime presence/absence of the FT. Differences between groups were analyzed with Student's t-test and χ2 tests. Subsequently we performed multivariate logistic regression. Results and conclusionsData regarding 601 subjects were collected. The 65.9% Experienced lifetime FT. Higher level of education, lower age at symptoms onset, abrupt onset type and bipolar I comorbid disorder were associated with the likelihood of having FT. Our findings confirm a high prevalence of the FT dimension and suggest that OCD with aggressive, sexual, religious obsessions could represent a specific endophenotype of this disorder. The specific relation between FT and comorbid bipolar disorder type I seems particularly interesting.

Impact of Censored or Penalized Data in the Genetic Evaluation of Two Longevity Indicator Traits Using Random Regression Models in North American Angus Cattle.

Simple SummaryCow longevity is a key driver of the beef cattle industry profitability that can be improved through genetic and genomic selection. Censored data are commonly dealt with in genetic evaluations of longevity, which can unfavorably impact the accuracy of breeding values and the rates of genetic progress. In this study, we evaluated alternative scenarios to define the best approaches for genetically evaluating longevity in North American Angus cattle in the presence of censored data.This study aimed to evaluate the impact of different proportions (i.e., 20%, 40%, 60% and 80%) of censored (CEN) or penalized (PEN) data in the prediction of breeding values (EBVs), genetic parameters, and computational efficiency for two longevity indicators (i.e., traditional and functional longevity; TL and FL, respectively). In addition, three different criteria were proposed for PEN: (1) assuming that all cows with censored records were culled one year after their last reported calving; (2) assuming that cows with censored records older than nine years were culled one year after their last reported calving, while censored (missing) records were kept for cows younger than nine years; and (3) assuming that cows with censored records older than nine years were culled one year after their last reported calving, while cows younger than nine years were culled two years after their last reported calving. All analyses were performed using random regression models based on fourth order Legendre orthogonal polynomials. The proportion of commonly selected animals and EBV correlations were calculated between the complete dataset (i.e., without censored or penalized data; COM) and all simulated proportions of CEN or PEN. The computational efficiency was evaluated based on the total computing time taken by each scenario to complete 150,000 Bayesian iterations. In summary, increasing the CEN proportion significantly (p-value < 0.05 by paired t-tests) decreased the heritability estimates for both TL and FL. When compared to CEN, PEN tended to yield heritabilities closer to COM, especially for FL. Moreover, similar heritability patterns were observed for all three penalization criteria. High proportions of commonly selected animals and EBV correlations were found between COM and CEN with 20% censored data (for both TL and FL), and COM and all levels of PEN (for FL). The proportions of commonly selected animals and EBV correlations were lower for PEN than CEN for TL, which suggests that the criteria used for PEN are not adequate for TL. Analyses using COM and CEN took longer to finish than PEN analyses. In addition, increasing the amount of censored records also tended to increase the computational time. A high proportion (>20%) of censored data has a negative impact in the genetic evaluation of longevity. The penalization criteria proposed in this study are useful for genetic evaluations of FL, but they are not recommended when analyzing TL.

Inteligencia Artificial, algoritmos y libertad de expresión

La Inteligencia Artificial puede presentarse como un aliado al momento de moderar contenidos violentoso de noticias aparentes, pero su utilización sin intervención humana que contextualice y traduzca adecuadamente la expresión deja abierto el riesgo de que se genere censura previa En la actualidad esto se encuentra en debate dentro del ámbito internacional dado que, al carecer la Inteligencia Artificial de la capacidad para contextualizar lo que modera, se ésta presentando más como una herramienta de censura previa indiscriminada, que como una moderación en busca de proteger la libertad de expresión.Por ello luego de analizar la legislación internacional, informes de organismos internacionales y lostérminos y condiciones de Twitter y Facebook, sugerimos cinco propuesta tendientes a mejorar la moderación algorítmica de contenidos.En primer término proponemos que los Estados compatibilicen sus legislaciones internas respetando losestándares internacionales de libertad de expresión. También instamos a que desarrollo en políticas públicasconsistentes en implementar legislaciones protectoras de las condiciones laborales de supervisores humanos sobre las decisiones automatizadas de remoción de contenido. Por su parte, entendemos que las redes sociales deben presentar términos y condiciones claros y consistentes, adoptar políticas internas de transparencia y rendición de cuentas acerca de cómo opera la IA en la difusión y remoción de contenido en línea y, finalmente, deben realizar evaluaciones previas de impacto de su IA a los derechos humanos.

조해일 장편소설 『겨울여자』의 개작 방향과검열 우회의 의미

조해일의 『겨울여자』는 1970년대 대중적으로 가장 인기가 있으면서도 사회비판적 시각도 유지하고 있었다는 평가를 받았다. 본고가 이 『겨울여자』를 주목한 이유는 조해일이 작가 후기를 통해 밝히고 있는 실정법의 보복을 염두에 둔 ‘안전장치’를 제거하였다는 언급에서 기인한다. 이에 따라 『겨울여자』를 정치우화소설 여부가 아닌, 표면적으로는 대중적 애정소설을 표방하면서도 정치적이거나 사회 비판적인 요소를 은유적 혹은 상징적으로 이면에 숨겨두었는가에 대한 사실여부, 그리고 만일 작가의 말처럼 그 당대적 ‘안전장치’를 제거했을 때 온전한 ‘정치소설’로 기능하는지 여부를 개작의 양상을 구체적으로 살펴봄으로써 확인하고자 하였다. 이를 확인하기 위해 신문연재본 이후 출판된 1~3차 단행본간의 개작양상을 비교하였다. 이를 통해 1~2차 단행본인 문학과지성사출판본과 중앙일보사출판본의 개작은 신문연재본의 내용이나 맥락, 의미상의 차이는 거의 없으며, 1차 단행본과 2차 단행본 사이에서도 명사의 변형이 주를 이룰 뿐 서로 비슷하게 개작되었음을 확인할 수 있었다. 이를 기반으로 3차 단행본인 솔출판사본과 신문연재본의 비교를 통해 ‘안전장치’가 무엇인지 확인할 수 있었으며, 이 반공주의적 ‘안전장치’가 제거되었을 때 오히려 작가의 개작 의도와는 달리 비정치적 ‘이화’ 중심의 대중 연애소설로 귀결되는 결과를 만들었음을 알 수 있었다.

Rhizomatic Translation and the Censor State: Publishing Aimé Césaire in Estado Novo Portugual

Poet, theorist and politician, Aimé Césaire produced, over the course of his literary and political career, a singular body of work equally noteworthy for its analysis of colonialism as for his poetic innovation. Publishing his texts in Portuguese under the censorship regime of the Estado Novo required therefore a series of delicate decisions on the part of editors in order to avoid official prohibition. This article examines in particular the only Portuguese publication to make it to press during this period, an anthology of poems published by Snu Abecassis in 1970, and the relationship of this anthology to the broader Césairean paratext, arguing for a “rhizomatic” understanding of the publication and translation, necessitated by the political context.

The Enlivenment of Public Opinion in the New Era: Exploring the Power of Social Media on Political Consciousness in Saudi Arabia

This research aimed to study how social media has changed the culture of communication in Saudi Arabia. The research surveyed 400 Saudis who use social media in order to discover likely relationships between degree of expression, political consciousness, amount of social media use, apparent attitude climate, government censorship and purposes for using social media. A survey questionnaire was used to answer projected hypotheses and research questions, and the data was analyzed using SPSS software. The results found solid connections between different variances, namely the amount of social media practice, degree of expression liberty, and level of political consciousness. Also, a strong and substantial effect was found on the way that people perceive the opinion climate via social media. Furthermore, entertainment was the primary reason why Saudis use social media that prejudiced their expression freedom, political consciousness and perceived opinion climate. The study is applicable to the youth as well as the adult population in Saudi Arabia in relation to opinion and political conscience. Only a few studies have drawn attention to the link between political conscience and use of social media, and this research focuses on the novelty and genuineness of research by using the population from a Kingdom.

Письмо Н. И. Левитского А. И. Лысаковскому о представителях МИД в Петроградской военно-цензурной комиссии. 1916 г.

The article publishes a letter from the chairman of the Petrograd Military Censorship Commission, Nikolai Ivanovich Levitsky, to the manager of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Iosifovich Lysakovsky (dated December 22, 1916). In the letter, Levitsky insists on the need to include representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the military censorship commission on a permanent basis. At the time, a different scheme was in effect: Levitsky sent diplomatic materials (newspaper and magazine articles, books, pamphlets, and cartoons) for verification to the Press and Information Department, which made its decision on their further fate. Levitsky pointed out the complexity and slowness of this scheme, which led to delays in printing, dissatisfaction of authors and editors. The main problem, Levitsky acknowledged, was insufficient competence of censors in foreign policy matters. Meanwhile, by the end of 1916, the topic of diplomatic censorship had become quite relevant. As the war drew to a close, more and more material appeared in press about the post-war world order and Russia's future relations with its allies and adversaries. Against this background, Levitsky advocated the inclusion of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as censors. The idea itself was not new: in the autumn of 1916, the headquarters of the Northern Front had submitted a project to reform the Petrograd military censorship in order to improve its efficiency. The main focus of the project was on expanding its staff and creating new departments in the Petrograd Military Censorship Commission. The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also to be included in the commission. Levitsky’s proposals followed the emerging trend: enhanced staffing and centralization of the military censorship, closer interaction of departments in order to increase its effectiveness. Lysakovsky approved the suggestion. Since January 1917, five officials of the ministry had been sent to the Petrograd Military Censorship Commission for daily and round-the-clock viewing of the press. However, this cooperation did not last: after the February Revolution, Foreign Ministry officials were released from the censorship work following the actual cessation of the preliminary censorship of press in Petrograd. Nevertheless, the unrealized project became a harbinger of future organization of press censorship after the Bolshevik’s assumption of power. The published document shows that the February Revolution was only a break in the process of censorship centralization and strengthening control over the press by the Russian state.

The role of governmental censorship departments in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20TH century

The role of governmental censorship departments in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20TH century

Manufacturing Consent Revisted: China’s image in selected South African media in the opening phase of the Covid-19 pandemic

The absence of any real substantial critique of China in South Africa media in the aftermath of Covid-19 is cause of concern given the increasing evidence to suggest that China is exporting its authoritarian press censorship culture abroad. South Africa, a strategic partner of China, offers insight into this “export.” In developing a methodology which asks if “China is crafting its image”, this research examines a sample of South African media between March- July 2020 to ascertain if censorship occurred. Deploying the theoretical framework of the Propaganda Model (PM) developed Herman and Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent” theory, the research cross analyzes via five filters to determine if China is “Manufacturing Consent” within the South African media.

The Circulation of Presence: Rossellini, Fellini, and the Boundaries of Religious Film

As Italian films migrated beyond Italy to the US after World War II, they became absorbed within secularization accounts of American culture. Neorealist films were celebrated for their transgressive qualities, challenging the moral censorship regime imposed upon cinema by the Catholc Church and the Production Code in Hollywood. Movies such as Roberto Rossellini’s Il Miracolo played an important role in loosening the restrictions under which movies were exhibited in America and helped create conditions of a cinematic sphere freed from religious regulation. Yet this secularizing role of Italian movies in American culture has obscured a more complex Catholicism at work in the films of Rossellini and Federico Fellini. This essay draws upon recent theories in religious studies to illuminate how the films of both directors resist the modern reduction of religion to absence and are instead informed by a Catholic sense of religious presence.

The Constitutional Roots of Freedom of Speech

This note, written to accompany NBA, China, and Social Media: What Are the Rules of the Game? (UVA-E-0459) but useful in tandem with other cases, charts the history of freedom of speech in the United States. The US Constitution did not originally include the Bill of Rights (which contains the 1st through 10th Amendments), but after more than 200 years of legal and philosophical shifts, expression rights receive legal protection on a tiered system, with political speech enjoying the least abridgment, commercial and sexually explicit expression subject to some government censorship, and obscenity and fighting words enjoying no protection. This note focuses on political speech, summed up in the 1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. This protection had its challenges over the years, with the most notable blow being the 1798 Sedition Act, which criminalized any questioning of the authority or laws of the US President or Congress. (Congress eventually allowed this act to expire), as well as some 20th century cases (for example, Schenck v. United States, 1919). The note touches on John Stuart Mill's 1859 On Liberty, which made philosophical arguments for the value of free expression that would come to undergird liberal legal interpretations of the 1st Amendment some hundred years later, as well as the repeated infringements of constitutional rights, including free expression during the US Civil War, the Espionage Act of 1917, and the Sedition Act of 1918, and other attempts to suppress free speech. Also referenced is theorist Alexander Meiklejohn, who, in 1949, outlined a highly influential philosophy on the limits of free expression. Excerpt UVA-E-0460 Feb. 16, 2021 The Constitutional Roots of Freedom of Speech In the discourse of American law and society, few individual rights hold as sacred a place in the nation's collective consciousness as the right to freedom of speech. While the framers of the Constitution did not originally think to include the Bill of Rights, in which the First through Tenth Amendments are found, it has become the bedrock of individual liberties in the United States. Today, after over two hundred years of legal and philosophical shifts, expression rights receive legal protection on a tiered system, with political speech enjoying the least abridgment, commercial and sexually explicit expression subject to some government censorship, and obscenity and fighting words enjoying no protection. Each category of speech has a unique sociological and jurisprudential background, but for the purposes of this note, we shall focus on political speech. The text of the First Amendment reads Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. While the text on its face seems to provide absolute protection, the government and courts have never treated it as such. Indeed, in 1798, President John Adams oversaw passage of the Sedition Act, which prescribed criminal penalties for any individuals questioning the authority or laws of the President or Congress. The Act remained in effect until 1801, when Congress allowed it to expire and President Thomas Jefferson pardoned those convicted as a result of the act. . . .

Role of Social Media in Radicalizing Protests in Thailand

Throughout 2020 youth protests did not stop in Thailand. They began as a reaction to the dissolution by the Constitutional Court of the New Future party, which is aimed at a youth audience. After the introduction of antiepidemiological restrictions street demonstrations stopped, but the activity of their participants shifted to social networks. In a digital space that is less subject to government censorship, the protest agenda has expanded and escalated significantly. As soon as the ban on demonstrations was lifted, the performances continued, but with more drastic demands, which were originally formulated on social networks. This article examines the impact of social media on the radicalization of youth protest in Thailand.

전무길 소설 「역경」의 검열과 복원

본 연구는 제국주의 일본의 신문 검열 양상을 『조선출판경찰월보』를 통해 살펴보고, 검열에 의한 행정 처분 과정에서 훼손된 작품을 복원하는 것을 목적으로 하였다. 『조선출판경찰월보』에는 발행을 목적으로 하는 출판물에 대한 행정 처분 기록이 남아 있는데, 행정 처분 목록에서 전무길의「역경」을 확인할 수 있었다. 전무길의 「역경」은『동아일보』에 1931년 2월 18일부터 3월 10일까지 15회 연재되었으며 16회 연재분은 발표될 수 없었고, 연재 중지 기사가 게재되었다.「역경」과 관련된 검열에 관한 내용 일체는 『조선출판경찰월보』제31호에서 확인할 수 있었다. 그 결과, 지면이 지워진 채 발행되었던 ｢역경｣의 16회에 담긴 내용이 무엇이었는지를 확인할 수 있었다. 「역경」의 경우 식민지 조선의 농촌 사회상에 대한 실상을 폭로하는 대목이 문제가 되었다. 조선총독부에게 있어 신문 검열은 식민지 경영에 있어 가장 효과적인 수단이었다. 신문은 사건 보도, 이를 반영하는 논설, 문예물 등이 신속히 전달되는 언론 매체였기에, 훨씬 더 민감한 통제 대상이었다. 전무길의 「역경」은 신문 문예면을 통제하는 한 사례라고 볼 수 있으며, 이는 신문연재소설의 겸열을 새롭게 살펴보아야 하는 이유로 제시된다.