Southern Weekly

Southern Weekly (literally Southern Weekend; Chinese: 南方周末), is a Chinese weekly newspaper based in Guangzhou, and is a sister publication of the newspaper Nanfang Daily.

Southern Weekly
在这里读懂中国
(Understand China here.)
TypeWeekly newspaper (Thur.)
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Nanfang Media Group
Founder(s)Zuo Fang
PublisherSouthern Weekly Press
Editor-in-chiefHuang Can
Managing editor, designZhou Yiping
Founded11 February 1984 (1984-02-11)
LanguageSimplified Chinese
Headquarters289 Central Guangzhou Avenue, Guangzhou, Guangdong
CityGuangzhou, Guangdong
CountryChina
Readership1.7 million
Sister newspapersSouthern Daily, etc.
OCLC number47997289
Websiteinfzm.com
Southern Weekly
Simplified Chinese南方周末
Traditional Chinese南方週末

History and profile

Southern Weekly, founded in 1984, has its head office in Guangzhou, with news bureaus in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. The paper is published by the Nanfang Daily group under the Guangdong Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).[1] It is printed simultaneously in many Chinese cities, and distributed to the whole of the Chinese mainland.

Southern Weekly currently operates upon 8 key sections: News, Defense, Current Political Situation, Economy, Environment, Culture, Supplement, and Comment, together with an editorial guideline of "Justice, Conscience, Love, Rationality".[2]

Circulation is more than 1.6 million copies, on average, which is said to be the biggest weekly circulation of any newspaper on the Chinese mainland. Thus it is considered to be one of the most influential media outlets in China. However, as of 2007 it had the highest circulation in Beijing.[1]

Although the CCP controls various aspects of the newspaper, Southern Weekly is still considered the most outspoken newspaper in China. The New York Times has described the Southern Weekend as "China's most influential liberal newspaper".[3] Outlets such as BBC and n+1 have termed the newspaper as one of the country's most respected.[4][5][6]

When U.S. President Obama visited China in 2009, he turned down an interview with China Central Television, and instead accepted to talk to Southern Weekly. The interview later turned out to be pale and avoided controversial topics, which was interpreted as the result of authorities' pressure.[7] After Obama then issued a letter to the newspaper praising its commitment to press freedom, the paper was forced to omit it in its report due to government censors. Southern Weekly protested by featuring two large blank spaces on its first two pages.[6]

The paper has built an audience of liberal-minded readers outside Guangdong Province. In 2010, the newspaper was reported to have a larger news bureau and greater circulation in politically charged Beijing than it did in southern China. Because the paper pushes the limits on domestic political reporting, its editors are often fired and replaced.[8]

Meanwhile, being a commercial spin-off of Nanfang Daily in Guangdong Province, Southern Weekly also attracts audiences with entertainment, consumer-oriented lifestyle and sports coverage.[2] In the "China's 500 most valuable brands" released by World Brand Laboratory in 2009, Southern Weekly was ranked at the first position in weekly publications by 4.4 billion RMB of brand value.[9]

In one of the many incidents of the paper running up against the authorities, in January 2013, the provincial propaganda authorities forced Southern Weekly to run a provided commentary glorifying the CCP in place of the paper's annual new year editorial, which had been a call for proper implementation of the country's constitution. Journalists working at the newspaper publicly objected to this interference – which is an unusual occurrence in China – via Sina Weibo. The CCP's censorship order was believed to have come from provincial propaganda chief Tuo Zhen, a former vice-president of state-run Xinhua.[10][11]

On 7 January 2013, protesters gathered outside the newspaper's headquarters to support journalists on strike due to censorship,[12] among them, Bill Chou.[13]

Notable reports
Title Date Notes
Mou Qizhong Himself and His Hoaxes 29 January 1999
Putian Faction Series starting in 1999
Karamay: A Face Reborned from the Fire 7 January 2000
Our Grains, Our Future (Drought Special) 26 May 2000
3 Nobel Prize Winners Excoriated "Nucleic Acid Nutriment" in China 22 February 2001
Inspection of Zhang Jun Case 19 April 2001
Commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Collapse of the Soviet Communist Party 16 August 2001
Thousands Kilometers to Track the Forge Letter in Project Hope 29 November 2001
Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan 1 September 2005
The Exclusive Interview with Obama 19 November 2009 [14]
Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Collapse of the Soviet Communist Party 18 August 2011 [15]
To Stab That Who Insulted His Mother to Death 23 March 2017 [16]

Notable events

2001 banned book incident

Liao Yiwu, the author of The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up, a book banned in China[17] which published conversations with China's poorest people, told Voice of America that Southern Weekly's editor-in-chief, deputy-editor-in-chief and director of the newsroom were all sacked for publishing a discussion he had about his book.[18]

2005 Group Resignation Incident

Reportedly a large number of journalists quit their jobs to voice anger against the newly elected editor-in-chief, but later the Southern media group published a statement that said this was fake information.[19]

2007 Annual Ceremony Incident

In a national gathering that Southern Weekly held in Beijing Bayi Theater, Du Daozheng, the editor of a magazine called Yan Huang Chun Qiu, was awarded the most respectable Chinese media, but a central government propaganda office official called and ordered the award to be canceled. All related shots of the ceremony were also deleted.[20]

2013 New Year Editorial Incident
Main article: 2013 Southern Weekly incident

The provincial propaganda authorities forced Southern Weekly to run a provided commentary glorifying the Chinese Communist Party in place of the paper's annual new year editorial, which had been a call for proper implementation of the country's constitution. Journalists on the paper publicly objected to this interference – which is an unusual occurrence in China – via Sina Weibo. The censorship order was believed to have come from provincial propaganda chief Tuo Zhen, a former vice-president of state-run Xinhua.[10][11]

References
  1. Susan L. Shrink (April 2007). "Changing Media, Changing Foreign Policy in China". Japanese Journal of Political Science. 8 (1): 43–70. doi:10.1017/S1468109907002472. S2CID 154300447.
  2. "About Us- Southern Weekly". Southern Weekly. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  3. Elisabeth Rosenthal (24 March 2002). "Under Pressure, Chinese Newspaper Pulls Exposé on a Charity". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
  4. "China newspaper journalists stage rare strike". BBC News. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  5. "Support for China censorship row paper Southern Weekly". BBC News. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  6. "China's Constitutional Crisis". n+1. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  7. Zhe, Zhang (9 November 2009). "Southern Weekly—Exclusive Interview to Obama". Southern Weekly. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  8. Susan Shirk (December 2010). Changing media, changing China. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-977996-3.
  9. Shen Yun. "2009 Billboard of Most Valuable Chinese Media Brand". First Financial Newspaper. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  10. "Outrage at Guangdong newspaper forced to run party commentary", SCMP, 4 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  11. "Southern Weekly reporters confront China censors", BBC, 4 January 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  12. Edward Wong (7 January 2013). "Supporters Back Strike at Newspaper in China". The New York Times.
  13. Chou, Bill (2014). "Is There Academic Freedom in Macau?". China Rights Forum. Human Rights In China (2). Archived from the original on 23 June 2018.
  14. "独家专访奥巴马". Southern Weekly (in Chinese (China)). 19 November 2009. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  15. Huang, Weiting (18 August 2011). "苏共亡党二十年祭". Southern Weekly (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  16. Wang, Ruifeng; Li, Jin (23 March 2017). "刺死辱母者". Southern Weekly (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 16 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  17. Linda Jaivin, "The Underside of China's Prosperous Age", China Heritage Quarterly.
  18. "专访禁书作家廖亦武：自认出版 "杀手"". Voice of America (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  19. "南方周末报资深记者集体辞职". 30 June 2005. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  20. "【 现场目击】 《炎黄春秋》获奖 中宣部出手搅局". www.huaxiabao.org. 6 March 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
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