"Controlling information in the digital age, with news consumers growing ever more discerning is far from easy – even in China.”

Al Jazeera’s Richard Gizbert introducing a video segment, “How China managed the message after the Yangtze ferry disaster”, for Al Jazeera’s regular media-focused programme, The Listening Post. The segment looks at media damage control and reporting disasters in China, the impact of social media on China’s information environment (“The monopoly the Chinese state once had over information is lost... People are sharing news in a way they couldn’t previously” – Sam Geall, editor, China Dialogue). The period of relative media freedom around the Beijing Olympics has been rolled back, the report notes. “Clearly, based on the trajectory of the past two years, things are much more difficult now for media in China,” says Jason Q Ng, author of Blocked on Weibo.

"Media control is not only a strategy, it’s a long tradition of propaganda... media control is the last shield to keep the legitimacy of the Communist Party’s power.”

Qiao Mu, associate professor, Beijing Foreign Studies University, in Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post.

“In the eyes of Chinese citizens, many people wonder why the Western media only covers the worst stories in China, like the SARS outbreak, or the Wenzhou train crash.”

Jason Q Ng, author of Blocked on Weibo, in Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post. Ng points out that there is a widespread opinion that “Western journalists, at least in the eyes of Chinese people aren’t really covering the many positive aspects of development in China and they only focus on these negative tragedies”.

"Cyber security isn’t just about national security and national development, but also concerns the immediate interests of every Internet user.”

Lu Wei, the head of China’s state level department, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), at the launch of China’s second Cyber Security Week. The public event was held this month as part of the country’s effort “to raise awareness amid growing internet users and rising cyber attacks,” according to state-owned Xinhua media organisations. The Xinhua report said Lu’s words “are in line with a recently released white paper on China’s military strategy, which said ‘cyberspace has become a new pillar of economic and social development, and a new domain of national security’.” The military white paper, published by the State Council Information Office, at the end of May, said China would speed up the establishment of its cyber force to tackle “grave security threats” to its cyber infrastructure. The white paper stresses that China is a major victims of hacker attacks. “China will enhance its capabilities of cyberspace situation awareness, cyber defense, support for the country’s endeavours in cyberspace and participation in international cyber cooperation, so as to stem major cyber crises, ensure national network and information security, and maintain national security and social stability,” Xinhua quoted the paper as saying.