Censored!

Not everyone is down with President Barack Obama’s “change” theme. China continues to censor news it doesn’t like, including parts of Obama’s inaugural address on Tuesday. The state-run media dealt with references to “communism” and “dissent” by pretending they didn’t happen. At the point in Obama’s speech where he mentioned the “defeat of fascism and communism,” central broadcaster CCTV cut away from the feed to an unsuspecting presenter, who awkwardly questioned an unprepared commentator, reports The Daily Telegraph in London. Another line later in the speech noted regimes that silence dissent are on the wrong side of history. Both references were deleted from transcripts appearing on major Chinese news Web sites. Obviously, change will come more slowly in some places than others. But you’ve got to think the preponderance of news sources will dent China’s media force field. Then again, if China’s censors are checking this blog, this item’s probably out, too.

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