… because, bluntly, there’s at least half a dozen websites out there covering Iraq better than I would, and I’m working under the assumption that my readers here are regularly checking out at least three of them regularly (not the same three in each case, obviously).
Moving on, there is an interesting, yet vague, indication that the PRC may be loosening up its publishing ‘industry’:
Shanghai. (Interfax-China) – China will kick off reform of its publishing system by transforming the country’s publishing houses from public service institutions into business-oriented enterprises, an official from the Regulations Bureau of China’s Press and Publication Administration (CPPA), who wished to remain anonymous, told Interfax in an interview.
All publishing houses in China, except for the People’s Publishing House, will undergo this reform. The People’s Publishing House, meanwhile, will remain a public service institution. China currently has approximately 527 publishing houses, of which 20 to 30 are private enterprises. Most of these private publishers are engaged in publishing books.
They’re also apparently going to welcome foreign investment without restriction, which if true may be significant later. Any market-driven publishing industry will inevitably find itself in a position where it wants to publish something not approved of by the government; I suspect that the PRC’s inevitable response to that would be seriously mitigated by the spectre of alienating existing foreign investors (and their lovely foreign currencies). IOW, although I retain dark, Cold War suspicions towards the PRC and its reforms, this one could be significant, as I can see how enlightened self-interest might be a factor for the PRC.
(Via Pejmanesque and Marginal Revolution)
“I suspect that the PRC’s inevitable response to that would be seriously mitigated by the spectre of alienating existing foreign investors (and their lovely foreign currencies).”
I think we’ll start to see the PRC lightening up on censorship when the Politburo decides to do that, and all the foreign investment in the world won’t make a tinker’s damn until that happens.