With a cash crunch roiling China’s economy, propaganda authorities have told local media to tone down their reporting to help stabilise financial markets.
In a directive written last week, and transmitted over the past few days to newspapers and television stations, local propaganda departments of the Communist party instructed reporters to stop “hyping the so-called cash crunch” and to spread the message that the country’s markets are well stocked with money.
Chinese propaganda officials regularly send guidelines to the nation’s media about sensitive political subjects, telling them which words to avoid and how to frame their reporting. But it is rare for financial media to receive such instructions.