Did the Chinese Government Crack Down on an Obama Interview?
Jake Tapper and Clarissa Ward report: First the Chinese government refused to broadcast live on state-run television President Obama’s town hall meeting with university students in Shanghai. Now some US media are saying the government is blocking access to an interview President Obama did in Beijing with the relatively progressive newspaper Southern Weekly, which in the past has pushed the limits of Chinese censors’ delicate sensibilities with actual journalism. It’s true that the Chinese government was less than delighted with the president sitting for an interview with Southern Weekly, especially considering Mr. Obama’s refusal to grant one to state-run news agency Xinhua or China Central Television. But after that it gets complicated. While the New York Times reported that the page of Southern Weekly “that contained the interview was missing from the edition delivered to Western news outlets in Beijing,” the interview was in the edition of the Southern Weekly delivered to the office
