CHINA: China's media watchdogs have ordered Rolling Stone magazine to stop publishing, just weeks after the first mainland edition of the rock 'n' roll bible hit the news stands, blaming a legal technicality.
The Shanghai bureau of the Government Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP), which keeps a close eye on new magazines for signs of dissent, said yesterday that Rolling Stone had not fulfilled all the correct procedures to publish.
Recent months have seen government censors clamp down on free expression in newspapers, magazines and on the internet.
The watchdog has hinted there was more to the decision to stop publication than a mere technicality.
"It's not simply a matter of procedure, because even if they handed in the right application, whether we would approve it remains a question," said Liu Jianquan, a spokesman for GAPP, "so we have issued them a warning and told them to stop their illegal action."
The challenge for Rolling Stone, as for many other magazines setting up in China, is to appeal to readers looking for hard stories and to appease the propaganda overlords of the Communist Party who brook no dissent.
An initial print run of 125,000 quickly sold out. The inaugural edition bore the craggy features of Cui Jian, China's Bruce Springsteen, glaring in lurid red and gold from the front page.
Also mentioned on the cover was Muzimei, a mainland writer whose steamy online sex diary earned her infamy and saw her website banned.
Choosing Cui Jian was a daring choice. The protest singer is best known for Nothing to My Name, a song widely seen as referring to the Tiananmen Square massacre and he has only recently been rehabilitated by the government. However, the interview inside avoided political subjects.
Other bad boys in the inaugural edition were Jimi Hendrix and "gonzo" journalist Hunter S Thompson, but the overall tone was uncontroversial.
There were translations of stories from the English-language edition about Bono, American actress Jessica Alba and Taiwanese star Jay Chou.
Foreign titles have been lured to China by the country's booming advertising market and other western glossies on sale include Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire and FHM.
However, while China has opened up many industries to foreign participation, it keeps a firm grip on the media and publishing sector, so producing a Chinese-language edition of a western magazine is a tricky process.
Would-be publishers are expected to avoid politics and stick to shopping.
Foreign magazines buy licences from ailing Chinese magazines and relaunch the titles as a foreign lifestyle-focused brand - the US publishing giant Conde Nast linked up with China Pictorial to launch Chinese Vogue last year.