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China’s state news agency has had to issue a correction after it referred to President Xi Jinping as “China’s last leader”, an apparent copyediting error.<\/span><\/div>
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Xinhua later amended the copy, which had by then been widely reused, and asked outlets to change the reference to “China’s top leader”.<\/span><\/div>
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In the end many outlets simply removed Sunday’s article in its entirety.<\/span><\/div>
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Such a mishap is extremely rare as references to China’s president are believed to be closely scrutinised.<\/span><\/div>
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Chinese media is heavily regulated, with government censors often removing content on websites and social media.<\/span><\/div>
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The two phrases are just one character different, but are pronounced very differently.<\/span><\/div>
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The error comes as the government exerts increasingly strict control on the media. Similar mistakes in the past have had serious consequences for the journalists involved.<\/span><\/div>
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In December, four journalists were suspended after the China News Service – also controlled by the ruling party – accidentally reported President Xi’s “resignation” (ci zhi), instead of “speech” (zhi ci), during a tour of Africa.<\/span><\/div>
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Censorship and arrests of journalists are on the rise and in 2015 China put 29 journalists behind bars, for a variety of alleged offences.<\/span><\/div>
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Mr Xi recently toured newsrooms in Beijing, calling for “absolute loyalty” to the Communist Party.<\/span><\/div>
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But just last week prominent Chinese financial magazine Caixin highlighted censorship of its content, in a rare and defiant move against the government.<\/span><\/div>
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It claimed on Monday, in an article published on its English-language website, that censors had deleted an interview on the issue of free speech. By Tuesday evening that article appeared to have been deleted as well.<\/span><\/div>