China censors CNN SARS report

Second day in a row where worldwide cases dropped, assuming we're willing to accept the reports from China. I'll take this good news with a grain of salt, but I like it.

Taiwan is in big trouble, and deserves the most scrutiny. The reports from there seem more reliable, and they're taking the toughest measures. Can they contain it? We'll find out.

The Red Chinese are once again reverting to their natural form.

There's no reversion. They never deviated from this form.

CNN as much as any media outlet regulary, pre-Sars and post-Sars presents false impressions about the nature of the Chinese communist dictatorship.

When asked about the censorship, a Chinese official said, "The coverage positions a negative coverage of China."

Is there even the slightest hint of embarrassment in that statement? I can't detect any.

Should China be embarrassed or apologetic about its policy of censorship? If a Chinese government official were to be pressed to explain the legitimacy of his country's censorship policies, do you think he would attempt to justify them expressly on the grounds that they facilitate the oppression and manipulation of the Chinese people? I don't think so.

I think a Chinese official would attempt to rationalize the censorship as necessary (in this particular case) to his country's effort to defeat the SARS epidemic. I think he would claim that foreign broadcasts that are critical of China's SARS policies are nothing more than "propaganda" which would tend to dangerously undermine the confidence of the Chinese people in their government and to damage the morale of those Chinese people who are on the "front lines" in the battle against SARS.

That's what I think he would say.

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