China Still A Police State - Media Drops The Ball

Inept media concentrates on trivia, ignores human-rights violations

Here is what the Reuters news agency recently reported, verbatim:

Exam cheaters jailed on state secret charges
Reuters

Fri Apr 3, 12:38 pm ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – Eight Chinese who used high-tech communications equipment, including mobile phones and wireless earpieces, to help their children cheat at university entrance exams have been jailed on state secret charges, local media said.

The eight, from the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, got together in 2007 to plot how to help their children as "they knew their achievements were not ideal," the official Legal Daily said.

One of the parents hired university students to provide answers which were sent to the children via wireless earphones while they were in the exam room, the report said.

But their ruse was discovered after police detected "abnormal radio signals" near the school, the newspaper said.

The parents were given jail terms ranging from six months to three years after being found guilty of illegally obtaining state secrets, it added, without saying what happened to their children.

China's college entrance exams, or "gaokao," are fiercely competitive tests.

Stories of cheating surface every year, despite stiff penalties. Students reportedly pay for leaked exam papers, smuggle in mobile phones and electronic dictionaries, or pay others to take the exam for them.

Here is the real story, which Reuters completely ignored:

Chinese police are actively engaged in monitoring the cellphone and radio conversations of ordinary citizens—even schoolkids.

Don't depend on the media to keep you properly informed, folks.