Reuters: China shuts newspaper for slight against Jiang

Monday June 25, 10:19 PM

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese propaganda authorities have temporarily shut a newspaper in the eastern province of Jiangsu for publishing a sarcastic article about President Jiang Zemin, a Hong Kong-based rights group said on Monday.

The Business Morning Daily was the latest target of a crackdown on newspapers which pushed the boundaries of China's censors to attract readers in an increasingly competitive market, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Propaganda chiefs ordered the Nanjing-based newspaper to close after it printed a story implying that Jiang granted preferential policies towards Shanghai because of his personal connections with the city, the group said in a statement.

Jiang, a native of Jiangsu, worked in Shanghai in the 1950s and 1960s and served as mayor and [party' name omitted] Party secretary there in the late 1980s.

The propaganda officials said the article was a "grave political error", according to the statement.

It was not known when the newspaper would be allowed to reopen. Staff on the newspaper and propaganda officials were not available for comment.

Last week, a vice editor-in-chief at Dahebao, a newspaper in the central province of Henan, was sacked for reports criticising local governments for corruption. The newspaper's editor-in-chief was reprimanded but was not fired.

Earlier this month, authorities also shut the popular Guangxi Business Daily because it was operated by a private company, although some local reporters said it may have angered local officials with its reports.

And last month, at least two senior editors at the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend were forced out over stories about a gang leader executed for mass murder and a deaf bomber executed for killing 108 people in a series of blasts.

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