Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews Secretary of Central Discipline Inspection Committee (CDIC) Wang Qishan is investigating People’s Daily, after inspecting and removing the communist mouthpiece CCTV. Recently, People’s Daily has been giving out harsh criticism against Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement; CDIC’s sudden announcement of investigation at this time is highly unexpected. So is there a connection or is it pure coincidence, and will People’s Daily follow the fate of CCTV? —these questions are attracting international attention. On Oct. 5, the CDIC released news on its website, saying that People’s Daily has called for a conference, regarding a special inspection assignment against them. Pu Zengfan, team leader of the CDIC inspection team stationed at People’s Daily, spoke at the conference. Yan Xiaoming, the deputy chief editor and the secretary of the Party Committee of People’s Daily was the host. The purpose of the conference was to execute the instructions of Wang Qishan and inspect People’s Daily, say reports. The inspection is ran by two inspection teams, headed by Pu Zengfan and Yan Xiaoming. It is made up of leaders and cadres of grade six and above, from departments such as discipline inspection, finance audit, and organization & personnel. The inspection covers three local branches of People’s Daily and three affiliate publications and entrepreneurships. It’s mainly about editorial decision making and deployment, advice for good governance, bribery and extortion prevention, selection and appointment, and matters for leading cadres. Pu Zengfan has stated that the inspection must be treated as a “political mission”. Analysts believe it is very rare for the CDIC to pursue an inspection against People’s Daily, and this proves that corruption exists in the press. Dr. Ye Ke from public policy: “Media such as People’s Daily and CCTV are actually very corrupt; the CDIC will definitely discover a lot of problems.” “CCTV especially, is like a coup base of Zhou Yongkang and Li Dongsheng’s political factions, and the investigation will definitely uproot these connections; Liu Yunshan, the propaganda department head, will also be implicated.” “Therefore, this is actually a reflection of political struggles within the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) high ranks.” After the CCP 18th National Congress, its propaganda organs have become the focus point of struggle within Zhongnanhai (CCP’s political headquarters). The intensifying rivalry between Xi Jinping and Jiang Zemin and their battle for a voice were shown through incidents like the Southern Weekly case, Xi Jinping’s political strikes, and the boycotting against the abolition of labour camps, etc. After the emergence of Occupy Central in Hong Kong during the end of September, mainstream media worldwide have directed their attention to the movement, but CCP media including People’s Daily, have consistently criticized it. So could the inspection be connected to the ongoing events in Hong Kong? Ye Ke: “The situation in Hong Kong is actually very delicate; People’s Daily’s been bombarding Occupy Central nonstop “Jiang’s faction has been attacking Xi Jinping continuously, but he doesn’t have many cards left; all he can do right now is to bring chaos to the situation.” “People’s Daily is a system within Liu Yunshan’s control and its mission is to create trouble for Xi Jinping.” Hua Po, Beijing’s political observer: “I think this is to prepare for the Fourth Plenary Session; there are many problems with the CCP’s ideology and manner of propaganda, so perhaps, they will create trouble during this period of time.” “The foremost objective of Xi Jinping’s deployment of CDIC against People’s Daily is to intimidate and pacify them, while the Fourth Plenary Session is being held.” CCTV, another heavyweight in the CCP’s propaganda system, has also been caught in this political rivalry. After the fall of CCTV’s deputy director, Li Dongsheng at the end of 2013, every CCTV channel was caught up in the anti-corruption storm and many high-level executives were arrested, while employees underwent investigations. Recently, the trend shows that the anti-corruption campaign is moving to even higher levels within CCTV. According to Taiwan’s Storm Media Group report, high officials, Jia Qinglin and Liu Yunshan, are implicated in a scandal involving a 10-million USD collusion in purchasing TV series from Taiwan. Commentators believe that, at least during the investigation, the move against People’s Daily will create a tremendous intimidating effect on state media at the central level, causing leaders of various levels to become more cautious. . 《神韵》2014世界巡演新亮点 http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/

• published: 09 Oct 2014
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