4:10PM
Supporters outside Southern Weekly compound took photos of a police officer who was taking photos of them. twitter.com/ivanzhai/statu… [1]
— Ivan Zhai (@ivanzhai) January 7, 2013 [2]
2:00PM
Southern Weekly supporters picking up scattered chrysanthemum petals. twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [3]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [4]
Large crowd still gathered and things remain peaceful, says one attendee. twitter.com/meowdan/status… [5]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [6]
1:30PM
Tianya.cn's Liang Shuxin: Quite a few police/undercovers/guards at the scene now, flowers have all been confiscated, starting to get tense.
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [7]
1:00PM
This fellow is leading the crowd in chanting for democracy, press freedom, and human rights, says Weibo's @xiaohanrizhi [8] twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [9]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [10]
This Guangzhou street is lined with press freedom advocates, outside Southern Weekly's offices. twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [11]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [12]
'Middle school students turn out in support and are greeted with applause.' twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [13] Outside Southern Weekly's Guangzhou office
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [14]
12:30PM
Diverse turnout, including Ah Qiang head of Guangzhou's PFLAG chapter. twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [15]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [16]
A little bit more of a tussle here, involving one of the speakers earlier outside the Southern Weekly compound. twitter.com/avb001/status/… [17]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [18]
A bit of a tussle here between Southern Weekly supporters and police. twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [19]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [20]
12:15PM
A bunch of police cars just pulled up, writes Weibo user xiaohanrizhi, and this woman is getting her ID checked. twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [21]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [22]
12:00PM
Anti-press censorship slogans printed on A4 paper. twitter.com/zouxingtong/st… [23] @zouxingtong [24] photo
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [25]
Supporters laying chrysanthemums at the entrance to the Southern Media Group compound in Guangzhou. twitter.com/zouxingtong/st… [26] @zouxingtong [24] photo
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [27]
Guangzhou police hanging back on the edge of today's Southern Weekly support rally. twitter.com/zouxingtong/st… [28] @zouxingtong [24] photo.
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [29]
More and more people gathering outside the Southern Media Group compound gates. twitter.com/zouxingtong/st… [30] @zouxingtong [24] photo.
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [31]
11:45PM
Yellow and white chrysanthemums, a panda mask, and the Southern Media Group address in the background. twitter.com/zouxingtong/st… [32]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [33]
One attendee estimates "several hundred" netizens are now gathered in support outside Southern Weekly's offices. twitter.com/zouxingtong/st… [34]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [35]
11:30AM
'A young netizen has stood up and is calling for political and constitutional reform.' twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [36]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [37]
"End press censorship. The Chinese people want freedom!" twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [38]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [39]
Chrysanthemums were chosen to symbolise today's Southern Weekly support rally for a special reason. twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [40]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [41]
One young supporter of Southern Weekly being interviewed by Hong Kong media. twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [42]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [43]
View of today's Southern Weekly support protest from inside the Southern Media Group complex. twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [44]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [45]
The man seen here has turned up to represent those who see Southern Weekly as a tool of American imperialism. twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [46]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [47]
11:00AM
The crowd outside Southern Weekly continues to grow, says one attendee, though the protest doesn't begin until 12pm. twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [48]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [49]
10:45AM, January 7
More and more people get together in front of Southern Weekly showing their support... Pic：Yi室陽光-2 # 越來越多人聚集在南方周末報社門口 twitter.com/Liangyanr/stat… [50]
— Yanr (@Liangyanr) January 7, 2013 [51]
Another pic via Yi室陽光-2 supporters are gathering and a police officer shows up... #南方報業門口 [52]，支持南方周末的人群聚集，警察現身#China twitter.com/Liangyanr/stat… [53]
— Yanr (@Liangyanr) January 7, 2013 [54]
Poster calling for press freedom, just before 11AM Monday outside Southern Weekly's Guangzhou office. twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [55]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) January 7, 2013 [56]
这张的字能看清楚了。 twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [57]
— 北风（温云超） (@wenyunchao) 1月 7, 2013 [58]
The situation continues to escalate at Southern Weekly, considered by many to be China's most respectable newspaper, where journalists there have been joined by some managerial staff in calling for an investigation into the censorship of its annual address for 2013, and for the resignation of Tuo Zhen [59], the propaganda official who penned his own unauthorised version.
After the scandal broke, journalists at the newspaper began airing their grievances on their personal microblog accounts, only to quickly be silenced and in some cases have their accounts deleted. Beyond that, efforts at Sina Weibo and other online platforms to censor discussion of media industry and public outrage at Tuo's move have been fast and furious and unrelenting.
On Sina Weibo, where the ensuing discussion is centred, Southern Weekly's official microblog account was seized by management at the newspaper, leading to a fresh round of outrage and protests online, and the decision by several editors [60] to go on strike today.
In addition, offline protests are scheduled to take place today outside Southern Weekly's offices in Guangzhou and Beijing. Late Sunday evening, mainstream media and even Communist Party mouthpieces such as People's Daily tweeted vaguely worded [61] statements in support of Southern Weekly journalists and editors.
E-commerce platform Taobao, for instance, wrote [62] early this morning on its official Sina Weibo account, "There is no winter which can't be outlasted. Even now, the swallows are flying toward the South."
All four of the characters which comprise Southern Weekly's name in Chinese are also currently being filtered [63] from search results on Sina Weibo.
We'll be constantly updating our liveblog below so check back soon, but in the meantime here's some background to the controversy:
SCMP: Southern Weekly censorship row escalates as staff strike, hundreds sign petition [64], Journalists call for censor to quit over editorial scandal [65], Tuo Zhen, crusading journalist turned Guangdong propagandist [59], Former 'Southern Weekly' journalists want propaganda chief Tuo Zhen to go [66]
Beijing Cream: Journalists Are Threatening Boycotts, Calling For Protests Over Southern Weekly Incident [67]
Offbeat China: Modern China’s first open war over freedom of speech accelerated [68]
BBC: Southern Weekly reporters confront China censors [69]
New York Times: Test for New Leaders as Chinese Paper Takes On Censors [70]
China Media Project [71]
January 7, 2013
03:14 Zuo Zhijian, director of features at Southern Media Group's 21st Century Herald's Shanghai office, writes that an emergency meeting was held Saturday at Southern Weekly lasting until 6am Sunday morning. http://weibo.com/1649259794/zdhVOwVkZ [72]
02:58 Staff at Southern Weekly publish a photo [73] from the newsroom, thanking readers for their support.
01:47 Demands for an official apology and that all Southern Weekly journalists be spared any punishment are posted to the official microblog of the student union at Guangzhou's Jinan University, whose journalism program has fed many graduates into Southern Media Group. "The public is being silenced," reads the letter, "news can't be reported from the mainland, but countless people have still taken it upon themselves to speak out in support." http://e.weibo.com/1880990753/zdhmAyDiH [74]
00:40 A Sina Weibo account for media interns notes that results are being blocked for searches done on the site of the names of several universities, including Jinan University, South China Normal University, South China University of Technology and Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, as well as Jinan University in Shandong province, Southwest University in Jiangsu, Southwest University in Chongqing and Nankai University in Tianjin. Throughout the weekend, students at universities around the country posted photos online to show their support for Southern Weekly. https://twitter.com/28wordslater/status/287427530204516354 http://weibo... [75]
January 6, 2013
23:04 Southern Weekly commentator Li Tie, writing on his NetEase microblog account [76], refutes the statement published on the newspaper's Sina Weibo account. He mentions it was decided at the newspaper's Saturday editorial meeting Saturday that a full internal investigation would be conducted and the results will be made public soon, adding that nothing less than the newspaper's credibility is at stake.
22:27 A statement refuting the one published on Southern Weekly's official Sina Weibo microblog account claiming responsibility for the new year address that went to print is published [77] on the newspaper's official account on the NetEase microblog platform, signed by nearly 100 employees.
22:18 Southern Weekly's social media editor Feng Duan announces [78] on his Sina Weibo microblog account he's been forced to hand over the password to the newspaper's account, and the post is deleted shortly after.
22:04 Southern Weekly financial journalist and editor Zhang Hua (张华) announces [79] on his Sina Weibo account that he and other colleagues have gone on strike and quickly gathers more than 13,000 comments. That post is quickly deleted but at 22:06 he updates his account to thank his supporters, receiving more than 1,600 comments.
21:20 A statement to readers is published [80] on Southern Weekly's Sina Weibo account with a claim the newspaper itself was responsible for the 'fake' new year address, followed by an apology. The version that went to print, the statement reads, was drafted by an employee of the newspaper, and recent online rumours are untrue.
A crucial moment for China's journalism. Some editors and journalistsat Southern Weekly are expected to take a walkout against censorship
— priscillajiao (@priscillajiao) 1月 6, 2013 [81]
img.ly/rzMO [82] Students at Jinan University (Guangzhou) show their open support for Southern Weekly and press freedom. 暨南大学声援 #南方周末 [83]。
— edde (@Edourdoo) 1月 6, 2013 [84]
@jerkerhellstrom [85] @mini_truth [86] @nanzhou [87] @niubi [88] This is equivalent to you can't search "new", "York", OR "times" on Twitter. Terrible.
— Chris Kang (@KangKai) 1月 6, 2013 [89]
Chinese journalist are calling for protests tomorrow in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Chengdu twitpic.com/bt21pe [90]
— Offbeat China (@OffbeatChina) 1月 6, 2013 [91]
There have been propaganda ministry since the birth of Southern Weekly. But there have been no big conflicts until Tuo Zhen's period.
— xiaoming (@lixiaoming) 1月 6, 2013 [92]
Chinese students standing by Southern Weekly twitter.com/Yuxin_Gao/stat… [93]
— Helen Gao (@Yuxin_Gao) 1月 6, 2013 [94]
What’s to come next? It’s not unlikely that Weibo will shut down to prevent further escalation of protest.
— Guobin Yang (@Yangguobin) 1月 6, 2013 [95]
On Weibo, a drama unfolding in real-time, with netizens trying to get seconds ahead of censors to retweet messages about Southern Weekly
— Guobin Yang (@Yangguobin) 1月 6, 2013 [96]
Southern Weekly statement that its Weibo account was taken away was retweeted 21372 times in 13 minutes. Then the statement was gone.
— Guobin Yang (@Yangguobin) 1月 6, 2013 [97]
editors at Southern Weekly were forced to hand over Weibo account to censors and are going on strike img.ly/rzow [98] Weibo boiling now
— Helen Gao (@Yuxin_Gao) 1月 6, 2013 [99]
Defying censorship, mutiny by editorial staff of Southern Weekly playing out. Editor's Weibo: goo.gl/fsfoa [100] #China [101]
— Andy Yee (@ahkyee) 1月 6, 2013 [102]
Editorial staff at Southern Weekly going on strike. Declaration: goo.gl/SeO0q [103] #China [101] #censorship [104]
— Andy Yee (@ahkyee) 1月 6, 2013 [105]
Expect a lot of flowers and crowds at Southern Weekly office (map: goo.gl/wCQZp [106]), and a political storm #China [101] #censorship [104]
— Andy Yee (@ahkyee) 1月 6, 2013 [107]
#China [101] dream, constitutional dream, support Southern Weekly, defend #press [108] #freedom [109] RT @wenyunchao [110]: 行动者。 twitter.com/wenyunchao/sta… [111]
— Andy Yee (@ahkyee) 1月 6, 2013 [112]
video of protester in Guangzhou calling for GD propaganda chief Tuo Zhen to step downyoutube.com/watch?v=hrPHFa… [113]
— Yuen Chan (@xinwenxiaojie) 1月 5, 2013 [114]
The Nanfang Weekly editorial controversy seems to have sparked a debate on whether the paper is pro-press freedom
— Kristine Kwok 郭雪端 (@Kristinekwok) 1月 4, 2013 [115]
Small gesture from Sun Yat-sen University kids in support of Southern Weekly twitter.com/28wordslater/s… [116]
— John Kennedy (@28wordslater) 1月 5, 2013 [117]