Gag order imposed on Chinese media over cruise ship disaster
A gag order was imposed on many mainland journalists over one of the country's worst maritime disasters, while members of the foreign media were taken on an official tour of the accident scene but many sites were kept off limits to them.
A gag order was imposed on many mainland journalists over one of the country's worst maritime disasters, while members of the foreign media were taken on an official tour of the accident scene but many sites were kept off limits to them.
The Communist Party's Publicity Department issued an urgent gag order early on Tuesday morning, within 12 hours after news broke of Monday night's ferry accident on the Yangtze River.
The message was quickly passed down to propaganda departments on the provincial and city levels, and swiftly forwarded on to newsrooms, editors and journalists of traditional media outlets across the mainland.
"Regarding the sinking incident of [the Dongfangzhixing, or Eastern Star] tourist cruise ship, no province, prefecture or city will send reporters to the scene. Those who have arrived shall be called back immediately," read the gag order, which journalists shared on social media platforms. "All media should run Xinhua stories and use [China Central Television] footage."
Many of the mainland journalists who had rushed to the scene in Hubei province's Jianli county to cover the accident, were forced to abort their trips.
The gag order was confirmed by several journalists, who said the message was passed down to them by their editors either by email or phone early on Tuesday morning.
