The guest blogger at the Daily Dish points out that a PEW poll reports 80% of Chinese believe the Internet should be controlled.The reasoning:
Much of the highest profile press focuses on children and their internet use and abuse. Over half of all internet users in China are under the age of 25, and 20% are under the age of 18. Many have parents who are less sophisticated and more wary about computers and the internet than their children are.
The media, which all operate under direct or indirect state control, warn frequently about internet addiction when discussing technology’s effects on youth. At the end of 2006, the media reported that the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League stated that more than 2 million children and teens were internet addicts. In 2008, the Xinhua news agency reported that 11% of youth ages 18 to 23 are addicted to the internet.
I thought his last sentence was good, too: “The greatest trick of state controlled media is getting the population to demand its own censorship.”
Filed under: China, Entertainment, Geopolitics, Politics
