Yao Wenyuan, a Gang of Four member, died on December 23, 2005.
It takes two weeks for Xinhua editors to digest the "news" and prepare a 101-word newswire. Unsurprisingly, keywords like Mao Zedong and Cultural Revolution are missing.
Equally unsurprisingly, the Xinhua newswire is reproduced in the bottom-right corner of the People's Daily.
Page 4 - People's Daily
After the "reorganisation" of the editorial team of the Beijing News, the Xinhua newswire is again reproduced. No more no less.
Page A15 - Beijing News
But then the Beijing News is not (yet) wholly Xinhuaised. The editors opens a small box on the front page to denote the importance of Yao.
Front page of the Beijing News. Left: Panda's photo. Bottom-right: Yao Wenyuan Died
The Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, the sister newspaper of the Beijing News, goes one step further. The Xinhua newswire is again reproduced. But the editors add a sub-title "Last man of the Gang of Four", a photo of Yao and profiles of the other Gang of Four members. There is also a small box about Yao's death on the front page just like the Beijing News.
Page A24 - Southern Metropolis Daily
You may find the exercise rather too tedious. But that is necessary for someone like me who is looking for a glimpse of hope in the dead of winter.
Related Post:
Cultural Revolution Museum, Shantou
Postscript:
As Asia Pundit noted, although I had planned to stop blogging until January 5, it turns out that I have kept updating the fall of Beijing News post. It means less sleep. But it is nothing compared with Chinese journalists who are risking their rice bowl or even liberty to inch towards a free media.
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