Promotion for Chinese official who tightened grip on liberal media in Guangdong
Tuo Zhen made deputy boss of Central Publicity Department after three-year spell in the province
The Communist Party's man in charge of propaganda in Guangdong when two of the biggest media crises in recent years rattled the province has been promoted to deputy head of the Central Publicity Department.
Tuo Zhen, 55, made his first public appearance in his new role at a workshop on children's literature in Beijing last week, according to the China Writers Association, which hosted the event. The promotion takes him a step higher in official status to ministerial level, a reward for tightening the reins on the province's liberal media, according to one observer.
Tuo worked as a vice-president at Xinhua for a year before being sent to manage Guangdong's propaganda in May, 2012. Months after his arrival, journalists and editors at the outspoken Southern Weekly staged a protest over censorship of the newspaper's signature New Year editorial.
The stand-off sparked a rally by Guangzhou residents over government media controls.
Tuo allegedly played a key role in the last-minute decision to turn the front-page editorial calling for political reform into a tribute to one-party rule.
Commenting on the promotion, a former journalist from the Nanfang Media Group, which owns the Weekly, said: "We fear the tight grip on Guangdong media will be extended nationwide from now on."