media - And there is a lot of censorship in the air

The reports on censorship actions in the air. Maybe a good moment for those whose memory does not go further than the previous case to remind them that next month the National People's Congress is gathering in Beijing and that is traditionally a moment for - both real and symbolic - censorhip action.
A few interesting articles too, like this one in Business Week on Bill Xia who is fighting the censorship from North Carolina. His organization - funded by the US propaganda broadcaster Voice of America and some human rights organizations - is doing rather valuable work. Himself, part of the banned Falun Gong, sounds rather optimistic about China's future and his work to break holes in the big firewall:

Every time something momentous happens in China -- and Beijing smothers news about it -- more people use his software, Xia says. In 2003, when the SARS epidemic peaked and Chinese authorities seemed to be withholding information, the number of DIT users spiked by 50%, he says -- and they doubled after reports surfaced in December that Guangdong police had shot protesting villagers.

ESWN details the case of yet another sacked editor because he wrote about the poor english at the official website of the central government. Yes, you can also get sacked of not that heroic things. Abundant source by ESWN, who can translate faster than I can read.
And there is this new academic report about censorship in China, I hope to read this weekend.

Update: Almost forget to mention the heated discussion on another, older case where the Paris-based Reporters without Frontiers said Yahoo had provided also information that has jailed a journalist. Rebecca summerizes the case here. While opinions are very divided on what company to blame (if any) Yahoo or Alibaba, a seperate discussion on some mailing lists embarked on whether our French organization was paid by and following the political line, by ignoring the problems of journalists in US custody. More later.