November 14 — A doctoral student at the China University of Politics and Law brought a lawsuit against China’s broadcast regulator, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and UME International Cineplex after discovering that Ang Lee’s latest blockbuster “Lust, Caution” had been censored. The government bureau, Dong Yanbin (董彦斌) argued, infringed on his rights as a consumer by removing portions of the film. [More from Danwei.org].
November 18 — Amidst a proliferation of local government campaigns ostensibly aimed at “fake reporters”, a number of official newspapers, including Beijing Daily, China Youth Daily, Gansu Daily and Shanghai’s Wen Hui Bao, ran an editorial from Xinhua News Agency defending the “right” of journalists to carry out watchdog journalism — what in Chinese is called “supervision by public opinion” (舆论监督). The xinhua editorial said: “Before this year’s [November 8] Journalist’s Day, the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) issued a notice on safeguarding the rights of editorial staff. It said that ‘no organization or individual can intrude on or impede the legal news reporting activities of news writing personnel (新闻采编人).'”
November 18 — Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV and Communications University of China (CUC) announced strategic cooperation to build a Phoenix Academy (凤凰学院) at CUC. Citing the need for talent development created by its regional growth, Phoenix said the academy would focus on the mutual creation of television programming content and leading edge research in the media sector.