China is renowned for its seemingly ridiculous stance on freedom of speech and the proliferation of unauthorised news – a stance which has seen prominent members of society detained without legitimate explanation and popular social networks such as Facebook banned. Now, it seems, actions like that were only the beginning.

Despite the ruling party’s harsh approach with regards to liberalization of popular culture, a certain measure of freedom was still tolerated as microblogs and some social communication platforms were allowed to operate unhindered. However, it appears that the end may be in sight for many of these enterprises due to further government-imposed restrictions.

Although it is unclear what prompted the reinvigorated approach, it’s not unlikely that the recent happenings in the Middle East and North Africa had an impact.

Other than strictly monitoring the social sphere, the Chinese leadership is also intricately involved with public broadcasting and earlier this week announced new restrictions which will go into effect on 1 January 2012. Amongst other things, the regulations from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, are forcing 34 major regional television stations to;

limit themselves to no more than two 90-minute entertainment shows each per week, and collectively 10 nationwide. They are also being ordered to broadcast two hours of state-approved news every evening and to disregard audience ratings in their programming decisions.

The biggest contributors to media proliferation in China are microblogs, or weibos as they’re known locally. The two largest entities in China each count more than 200 million registered users and are the forum of choice for residents to spread information, ranging from celeb gossip to official scandals.

All these form only the tip of the iceberg, and the Chinese government’s reach is intertwined with every aspect of society, from social media to public broadcasting. Rather than following the trend that many other nations have set, which is towards social and political liberalization, China is doing the exact opposite.

[Source: NYT]