By SHARON LaFRANIERE
BEIJING — President Obama spent part of his last morning in Beijing giving an interview to Southern Weekly, a newspaper in southern China’s Guangdong province known for its press-the-envelope approach to the government’s ever-present censorship.
But if the White House expected a hard-hitting article that showcased the United States’ commitment to press freedom, it must have been disappointed when the newspaper hit the stands Thursday morning.
Mr. Obama was quoted talking about basketball. His other comments about trade, bilateral relations and China’s rise added virtually nothing to what he had previously said on his three-day visit.
Yet, as they did throughout the president’s visit, government authorities appeared to carefully monitor how his words were transmitted to China’s public.
Publication of the newspaper was held up late into the night, said one of its journalists, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. The page that contained the interview was missing completely from the edition delivered to Western news outlets in Beijing. An employee of the paper’s reader services department said the article on Mr. Obama delayed several pages in front section past the deadline for Beijing delivery.
The weekly’s Web site did not display the interview with any prominence, and China’s primary Internet portals appeared to ignore it. “It is not like whatever Obama says is news,” said Yu Wei, an editor of Sohu.com.
In a telephone interview, Michael Anti, a prominent Chinese blogger and an advocate of greater press freedom here, said
“This result is no surprise to us. Maybe Obama didn’t understand that all the high officials of the so-called free media are appointed by the party.”
Zhang Zhe, the reporter who attended the 12-minute interview, declined to answer questions about whether government censors were involved in either formulating questions for the Mr. Obama or reviewing the paper. The weekly’s editor in chief, Xiang Xi, said he was too busy to answer questions.
In an interview with Shanghai-based China Business News, however, Mr. Xiang did not present himself as an independent journalist. “Since Obama chose us, then Southern Weekly must represent Chinese national interests to raise questions or to confirm,” he told the newspaper.
The Southern Weekly apparently caught the White House’s eye because of its reputation for exclusives and a liberal bent. But propaganda officials in the past few years have sought to install more loyal editors and also warned Internet news portals not to pick up sensitive stories from the weekly.
Moreover, this week showed that China’s authorities are determined to oversee the shaping of Mr. Obama’s public image here. They rejected a White House request to nationally broadcast Mr. Obama’s Monday town hall-style meeting in Shanghai. Mr. Obama’s joint press conference with President Hu Jintao Tuesday was broadcast, but no questions were allowed.
Mr. Anti said Southern Weekly blew its chance to tell its 1.5 million readers more. In his first three questions, Mr. Obama was asked how felt about his first visit to China, whether he still had time to play basketball, and how he sees China-U.S. cooperation in the region.
“They just talked about nothing,” he said. “Just empty talk.”
Mr. Xiang, the weekly’s editor, portrayed it differently to the Shanghai newspaper.. “Obama didn’t shun any question or hedge in a politician’s tone,” he said. “Of course, we didn’t hold back, asking all the questions that should be asked.”
Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting and Zhang Jing and Li Bibo contributed research.
