How Chinese Censorship Works

For almost a year, four journalists at Bloomberg News were investigating the political connections of China's richest man, Wang Jianlin. In October, according to The New York Times, Bloomberg editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler told them the story wouldn't run because if it did, Bloomberg News would lose reporting access in China A few days later, Winkler reportedly spiked a second story, on the children of Chinese officials employed by foreign banks, presumably for the same reasons. Winkler reportedly defended his decision by "comparing it to the self-censorship by foreign news bureaus trying to preserve their ability to report inside Nazi-era Germany." Chinese officials responded last week by conduct unannounced investigations of Bloomberg's Chinese bureaus.