Chinese censors

While President Barack Obama visited China last week, his words were carefully monitored by Chinese authorities.

During his last morning in Beijing, he gave an interview to Southern Weekly, a newspaper in Guangdong Province that is known for testing the government's limits on censorship.

But that did not happen during Mr. Obama's interview.

The New York Times observed: "But if the White House expected a hard-hitting article that showcased the United States' commitment to press freedom, it must have been disappointed when the newspaper hit the stands on Thursday."

In fact, the president's remarks on basketball were published, but his comments on trade, U.S.-China relations and China's role in the world "added virtually nothing" to what he had already said previously on his visit, the Times reported.

Chinese censors went to work and the newspaper's publication was delayed for several hours past deadline. The page that contained the interview was missing from the edition received by Western news outlets in Beijing. The interview was downplayed in the newspaper.

Michael Anti, a Chinese blogger, told the Times: "This result is no surprise to us. Maybe Obama didn't understand that all the high officials of the so-called free media are appointed by the (Communist) party."

The weekly's editor, Xiang Xi, told China Business News: "Since Obama chose us, Southern Weekly must represent Chinese national interests."

During the president's visit, his words were carefully monitored by Chinese authorities, his image managed, his questioners coached. Beijing nixed the White House's request to have a town-hall meeting in Shanghai broadcast to the nation.

Such is news control, Chinese-style.