The traditional media were organized so that they were limited; for example, professional newspapers for the steel industry, which would only write about steel, provincial papers could only report about their region. So even if one outlet went rogue, there was limited damage. The internet spoiled that model. For the first time in recent history individual Chinese people have access to the tools of mass communication, and there were a few years where the internet ran amok. Some people think the government is paranoid; I’m not so sure, I think they are very soberly aware of everything.
