China media reins in criticism over train crash

CHINA: China's media are curbing combative reporting of a high-speed train disaster after what observers said were orders from the ruling Communist Party's propaganda arm to stop criticism that has echoed public outrage over the tragedy.

For a week, many Chinese newspapers defied censorship orders and pursued unusually aggressive reporting of the crash on July 23 that killed at least 40 people on two high-speed trains - a technology the government has promoted as a shiny symbol of the nation's growing technological prowess.

But censors have stepped up demands for news media to wind down often withering criticism over the train disaster near Wenzhou in eastern China, according to the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong. Beijing, Monday, Reuters