As Chinese police in Urumqi gave foreign journalists a rare up-close display Tuesday of how they can control a mob, Chinese leaders were also showing all of us what they have learned about how they can control information. And how they can't.
The Communist Party understands that although it can block Twitter and cut off mobile communications to a hot spot like Urumqi--as it has done in the wake of Sunday's riots--it can no longer prevent a big story from getting out to the rest of the country and the world. So officials put out their own story right away, immediately invited foreign journalists to Xinjiang and let nationalist Chinese netizens (some of whom are on the payroll) do much of the rest for them, spinning the news online.
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