Attempts by censors in China to
cover up online criticism about a high-speed train disaster have not
gone down well among the social media network-savvy younger generation
in the country.
The 23 July accident killed 40 and injured 191.
Internet users have railed against what they see as attempts to rush through train services ahead of safety considerations. And that’s not the only thing are unhappy about: they are seething about attempts to censor the tragedy.
“These days, efforts to seal off the flow of opinion can’t work like it did before,” Lu said in a telephone interview with Reuters. “These crude censorship steps used to have some effect, but now the speed of the flow of information has surpassed them. On the contrary, the word about such restrictions simply deepens people’s distrust in government.”
See full Reuters report.
Some lessons for us here about how easily people’s trust can be broken by censors. And how futile it is to try and cover-up in this age of Twitter and Facebook.
The 23 July accident killed 40 and injured 191.
Internet users have railed against what they see as attempts to rush through train services ahead of safety considerations. And that’s not the only thing are unhappy about: they are seething about attempts to censor the tragedy.
“These days, efforts to seal off the flow of opinion can’t work like it did before,” Lu said in a telephone interview with Reuters. “These crude censorship steps used to have some effect, but now the speed of the flow of information has surpassed them. On the contrary, the word about such restrictions simply deepens people’s distrust in government.”
See full Reuters report.
Some lessons for us here about how easily people’s trust can be broken by censors. And how futile it is to try and cover-up in this age of Twitter and Facebook.
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