Free Liu Xiaobo!

OSLO (AP) — Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for using non-violence to demand fundamental human rights in his homeland. The award ignited a furious response from China, which accused the Norwegian Nobel Committee of violating its own principles by honoring "a criminal."

Chinese state media immediately blacked out the news and Chinese government censors blocked Nobel Prize reports from Internet websites.

The people of China cannot even celebrate Liu Xiaobo’s great achievement today…. because they don’t even know about it! His name has been expunged from all forms of media. The so-called "Great Firewall" that the Chinese Government has created is being used in full force to censor any searches involving the “Nobel Peace Prize” or “Liu Xiaobo”.

Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize because of his brave fighting for democracy and human rights in China and is being praised as a hero by many. Yet, China put him in jail for this very behavior. It is all pretty insane to think of here in America, but there are plenty of people who would rot away in jail to get the kinds of freedoms that we take for granted on a daily basis.

These are the exact types of media controls and regulations that the U.S., as a democratic society, is so fortunate to not have to deal with. When we talk about things like the Fairness Doctrine and news channels being required to promote good citizenship in our class lectures and debates, this is the perfect example of just how bad things could get if we started down any of those slippery slopes. This is definitely not the first time China has used this type of censorship, Google anyone? This, however, is just another example of why we need to strive to keep our media free and keep the government’s hands out of our news! Long live the First Amendment and the right to free speech!