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Censorship in China: A game of cat of mouse

While the freight train of Chinese development powers into the 21st century, complex social, political and economic forces are shaping a new China - one that President Xi Jinping hoped would be the foundation for a "Chinese Dream" when he made his inaugural speech as president in March 2013.

But while Xi and the Communist Party may speak from the highest platform, they are increasingly obliged to listen to a different national conversation - one that takes place on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging service, which doubles as one of the world's biggest rumour mill.

The government has now realised, especially with the emergence of social media, that media is just a battleground that they cannot afford to lose.

Bingchun Meng,London School of Economics and Political Science

Until recently, Weibo censorship has been a matter of stamping out sensitive terms as and when they emerge. Reports suggest the state may employ as many as two million "public opinion analysts" in this game of semantic "whack-a-mole".

However, since August, China's opinion police have begun to target the "rumour-mongers" themselves. A number of high-profile microbloggers - known in China as "Big V" bloggers - have been arrested and paraded on state TV - "Killing a chicken to scare the monkeys", as the Chinese proverb goes.

China is, in a way, caught between its Maoist past and its capitalist present which one can see in the devotion to industry that stains the skies over its mega-cities and scars the lungs of its people.

And it is there, too, in the media - where Beijing uses soft power to get its story out to the world (in English) - while cracking down hard on citizens who stray from the official version of events.

To discuss China's complex social media equation, we speak with Zhuang Chen, the editor of the BBC Chinese website; Chinese writer and journalist, Lijia Zhang; Xia Yeliang, a professor of economics at Peking University; and Bingchun Meng, a media lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Our Newsbytes this week: Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef is on the airwaves and back in the firing line; Argentine President Cristina Kirchner scores a legal victory against the Clarin media empire; and a crackdown on critical radio in Somalia.

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Censorship in China: A game of cat of mouse

Social Media Costs — and Some Workers Are Paying With Their Jobs

After 12 years on the job, DeMetra "Meech" Christopher says she was fired from Xerox's call center in Lexington, Ky., for posting a picture of herself at work on Instagram and hashtagging the company name.

Christopher says that other employees have posted pictures on Instagram, but management decided to fire her for identifying Xerox. Christopher says she has enlisted a privacy lawyer.

Xerox declined to comment specifically about the case or even confirm Christopher ever worked for the company., but it did provide CIO.com with a copy of its social networking policy for employees who have social media responsibilities as part of their jobs. Xerox does have a strict policy concerning tech devices in the call center. Given the sensitive nature of data, including credit card numbers, the company says it does not allow personal phones, tablets (even paper ones) and cameras in the workplace.

The conflict between Christopher and Xerox underscores a much wider problem. An employee's personal use of social networks and a company's desire to protect its public image have created a dangerous new intersection that threatens to derail any goodwill built up over the years between employee and management. Employees tend to take the brunt of collisions, as Christopher recently found out.

The number of those crashes is growing. CNN put together a list of 10 people who learned social media can get you fired. Among them are these four examples:

Barista Matt Watson anonymously blogged about dealing with difficult customers, was outed by sprudge.com and fired for writing about his place of employment during work hours.

Tenth-grade math teacher Carly McKinney posted racy photos and tweets about marijuana. She was ultimately fired.

California Pizza Kitchen server Timothy DeLaGhetto claims he was fired for tweeting about the company's "lamest ever" new uniforms.

Perhaps most pertinent to CIO.com readers, two male software developers at a PyCon conference joked about "big dongles" and "forking" -- sexual innuendos with a tech twist -- overheard by SendGrid tech developer Adria Richards. She was offended, took a picture of them and tweeted it. One of the men was fired. Hackers exposed Richards' private information before she was fired for "publicly shaming the offenders," SendGrid CEO Jim Franklin wrote in a blog post.

It's not just the working-class portion of the organizational chart, either. CTO Pax Dickinson at Business Insider was fired in September for making racial slurs and rape jokes on Twitter. Also, CFO Gene Morphis at publicly traded fashion retailer Francesca's Holdings Corp. lost his job last year for casually tweeting about company information.

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Social Media Costs -- and Some Workers Are Paying With Their Jobs

Flip HTML5 Ebook Publisher App Introduced by FlipHTML5.com

(PRWEB) November 03, 2013

Recently FlipHTML5.com, a company offering e-book maker software programs, has introduced its free ebook publisher software which can not only create e-books but can also publish them across multi platforms easily and instantly. This software is one of the Top 5 Awesome Flipbook Software Programs for eBook publishing softwares.

The software can convert PDF files into attractive flip books in no time. And this is not all, this HTML5 PDF to flipbook can also convert MS Office documents and OpenOffice files to e-books too. With a range of customization options, this app is packed with ready-made and ready to use templates, backgrounds and themes. Users can add their own images and videos too and customize the files to suit their requirements. Its usability saves a lot of time and creates e-books instantly. George Mansion, a satisfied customer writes, Flip HTML5 solution is more than I expected. For business I need to do a lot of presentations to my customers and am always hoping to find a way to better present than the PDF, this software does it for me, thanks a lot.

The basic version is offered at no cost to customers worldwide. The software offers professional features which help create attractive e-books, magazines and brochures.

FlipHTML5.com is an online company offering digital media publishing software programs. It is known for its high quality products supplied at no cost.

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Flip HTML5 Ebook Publisher App Introduced by FlipHTML5.com

Tariq Nasheed Clowns Tommy Sotomayor On How He Dresses! – Video


Tariq Nasheed Clowns Tommy Sotomayor On How He Dresses!
follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/tjsotomayor like my fan page http://www.facebook.com/sotomayortommy watch all new videos from every channel at ht...

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Tariq Nasheed Clowns Tommy Sotomayor On How He Dresses! - Video

Piers Morgan to Ann Coulter: Would You Ever Date a Liberal? What About Bill Maher? – Video


Piers Morgan to Ann Coulter: Would You Ever Date a Liberal? What About Bill Maher?
10/31/13 - Ann Coulter sat down with Piers Morgan on Thursday night, and amidst all the political talk, Morgan actually asked Coulter about... romance. Yes, Morgan actually asked Coulter if...

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Piers Morgan to Ann Coulter: Would You Ever Date a Liberal? What About Bill Maher? - Video