Liu, J. (2004). China Shuts Down Two Internet 'Blog' Sites. Reuters, Mar 18, 2004.

Two of the largest blog hosting service providers in China were shut down by Chinese officials a few days ago. Given no any official explanation for the censorship, it is widely believed that the closure is due to some content deemed objectionable posted on the blog sites. The "inappropriate" content is, according to some Chinese Internet users, a well known doctor's letter to China's senior leadership asking them to reassess the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.

The changes brought to the political and cultural life of modern China by the emergence of the Internet has been open to discussion among scholars and average Chinese Internet users since the late 1990s. As a new form of mass media, the Internet plays the role of propaganda for Chinese government and an outlet for average Chinese people to express their own ideas in public, at least in public virtual reality.

On one hand, the Internet is deemed as the complementary media for the mainstream media to publish news carefully securitized by the government. All the information published on any Chinese websites is, at least it is supposed to be, under the censorship of Chinese government. According to the new laws on the administration of news Web sites, commercial media organizations are prohibited from owning independent news sites. Commercial web portals run by non-news organizations may carry news only from officially approved domestic news organizations, and even then only after obtaining government permission. Commercial portals may not carry any news items that are based on their own sources. Furthermore, no China-based Web sites may link to overseas news Web sites or carry news from overseas news media without permission by the State Council Information Office. In brief, news published on the Internet by Chinese web sites are deemed as a means of fortifying govern over the nation.

On the other hand, the birth of the Internet is celebrated by average Chinese people as a vent for free speech while it is also regarded as a net threat to "national security" by government. The transmission and dissemination of "inappropriate" information on personal web sites, forums and newsgroups aroused government’s attention thus through securitizations over content published by individuals are conducted. Webmasters take the responsibilities of examining messages and possess the rights to delete any controversial content, especially those criticizing the government. Certain websites might be ordered to shut or some overseas websites would get blocked and become inaccessible to Chinese Internet users. Simply put, most personal opinions published over the Internet have been examined by the government and "deleterious" parts have been filtered before their exposure to Internet users.

The censorship of the Internet in China can be well justified if it is defended from a situational perspectives well developed in Chapter 5. According to Diggs, "a persuader's role or position should determine what criteria are appropriate for judging the ethics of means and ends". According to the standpoints of Chinese government, there is one ultimate criterion held by it to justify the strict control over the information spread over the Internet. The rationalization can be best demonstrated from the interview held in September, 2000 between former President Jiang Zemin and CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace. Jiang pointed in the talk that "Freedom of the press should be subordinate to the interests of the nation," he said. "How can you allow such freedom to damage the national interests?" Acknowledging that many foreign news sites have been banned in China because of their political content, he said, "We need to be selective. We hope to restrict as much as possible information not conducive to China's development."

Nevertheless, from the point of basic human rights and free of speech, the censorship is vulnerable to harsh criticism. The initial and ultimate goal of the Internet--freedom and information sharing--is deliberately neglected by the government thus the freedom of speech of Chinese people is greatly impinged. From this point of view, the censorship, no matter in means or ends, is undoubtedly unethical.

One of the significant drawbacks of situational perspective is its limitation to justify the complex social phenomena frequently confronted by modern society. In the case of the Internet in China, the situation is very complex in that it concerns with the national security and individual freedom of speech. Therefore, it is demanded that an ultimate ethical criterion agreed beyond borders of nations, ethnicities and cultures be introduced and careful analysis be conducted when making ethical judgments.