China’s Biggest Media Outlet Apologizes For Releasing Pornographic Content—Twice

The Sina Corporation, the biggest media outlet in all of China, is incredibly sorry. In fact, they felt it necessary to apologize twice for "inadvertently" posting pornographic content on their website.

The notoriously repressed country actually has a "National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications," which released a report last Thursday confirming that

it had found 20 articles and four videos posted on the Sina.com site, "confirmed to have contained lewd and pornographic content," according to Xinhua, the state news agency. The government said it was revoking two of Sina's Internet publication licenses, and would also fine the Shanghai-based company.

Sina posted an apology on Thursday when the report was released, and again on Sunday, though it was much more pithy, "As one of the influential websites in China, Sina has failed to shoulder its due responsibility and we feel sorry for that."

There does seem to be a bit of a double standard at play here, however, as pointed out by The New York Times blog (link below)

To anyone who frequently visits Chinese news websites, the idea that Sina is being singled out by the authorities for posting pornography may sound odd. Doing news searches on Chinese websites is not for the prudish. Until the recent pornography crackdown, websites were full of advertisements featuring scantily clad women in various suggestive and lewd poses, often appearing to be engaged in sex acts with men. Even publications affiliated with the ruling Communist Party have a low bar for publicizing sexualized material that would cause outrage in the United States and elsewhere. For example, on April 4, the website of People's Daily, the party's official newspaper, featured an article entitled "Top 10 celebs with the most beautiful breasts in Taiwan."

If Sina apologizes again, we'll let you know, but in the meantime, enjoy this video of a Chinese woman's fantastic adventures in London.

Via Sinosphere NYT blog