Newspaper Editors Sacked Over Tiananmen Blurb
18 years after the fact….June 4th, 1989, the Chinese army crushed the democracy movement at Tiananmen Square.
When a newspaper Chengdu but the following tiny blurb in the lower right hand corner of page 14 - "Paying tribute to the strong(-willed) mothers of June 4 victims." it escaped the eyes of the censors.
A young clerk apparently allowed the tribute because she had never heard of the crackdown. When she checked, the person placing the ad said it was a 'mining disaster."
But the Chinese authorities had…and they still don't want it discussed.
As a result …. the deputy editor-in-chief of the Chengdu Evening News and two other members of the tabloid's editorial office were bounced, sacked, given the boot, in that order.
The Communist Party has banned references to the crackdown in state media, the Internet and books to keep young people from learning about it. The whitewash seems to be working.
And…we are reminded that China does not permit freedom of speech.
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