Boxun
Type of site
Overseas Chinese community website
Blog
Available inChinese
URLwww.boxun.com
Current statusOnline

Boxun (simplified Chinese: 博讯; traditional Chinese: 博訊; pinyin: Bóxùn) is an aggregation website and blog, which focuses on issues in China.[1]

Founding and purpose

According to the Associated Press, Meicun "Watson" Meng set up Boxun in 2000 to promote pro-democracy, human rights, and expose corruption in China.[2] Boxun allows anyone to submit news to the website in the form of citizen journalism, which has resulted in a large number of articles remaining anonymous.[1] The Boxun servers are run from an office in North Carolina since 2000.[3]

Funding

Boxun is partly backed by the China Free Press project, which is partially funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, a US-funded organization.[1][2] According to Meng, the website is now independenty financed.[2]

Cases

In April 2012, Boxun was subject to a cyber attack after days of reporting about Bo Xilai. Meng said he believed the attacks were ordered by China's security services.[2] According to the Associated Press, much of Boxun's reports on the Bo scandal "been proven true or been corroborated by other sources."[2]

In 2012, Boxun falsely reported that actress Zhang Ziyi was paid $100 million to sleep with top Chinese officials. Zhang sued Boxun in a US court for defamation. In December 2013, Boxun settled the case after agreeing to pay an undisclosed amount to Zhang and issue a front-page apology.[4]

Reactions

Boxun.com is blocked in mainland China.[5]

According to Foreign Policy, Chinese readers are comparatively more trusting of websites such as Boxun than Chinese state media as they "usually function as mouthpieces of the Communist Party."[6]

German leftist magazine konkret have suggested that the website is simply a tool of U.S. foreign policy.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Is China behind hacker attack on North Carolina website that covered political scandal?". Fox News. Fox news. April 20, 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cyber-attack cripples US website covering Bo Xilai scandal". The Guardian. April 20, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Blog Trouble in Big China". CBC. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007.
  4. ↑ "China's Zhang Ziyi wins sex claims case against Boxun". BBC. December 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Chinese Authorities Continue to Shut Down, Block Web Sites". Congressional Executive Commission on China.
  6. ↑ "Inside Boxun, China's media muckraker". Foreign Policy.
  7. ↑ Schmidt, Christian Y. "Neuigkeiten aus der Hope Valley Road. Der Westen hofft auf ein Übergreifen der arabischen Aufstandsbewegung auf China. Und hilft ein bißchen nach." konkret. 4/2011, p. 26-27.
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