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Print view Rolling Stone hits rocky road in China By Mark Magnier Los Angeles Times BEIJING -- The rock 'n' roll magazine Rolling Stone entered the Chinese market early this month with a huge splash, including billboard advertisements, a 125,000-copy rollout and free Rolling Stone hats with each copy. On Wednesday, regulators said they were shutting it down after one issue. Authorities have been cracking down on the media, with the editor of Beijing News sacked in December, and the well-regarded weekly supplement Freezing Point, which closed in January, subsequently reopening with a new, and presumably more cooperative, editor. Articles in the first Chinese edition of Rolling Stone about a rock star associated with the Tiananmen protests and a blogger who wrote about her sex life pushed the limits of what is permissible in China. "They didn't go through the proper procedure," said Chen Li, director of the newspaper and magazine department with the Shanghai Press and Publication Department, where the magazine was published. The publication's editor challenged that view, and some industry experts said it was possible the publication could agree to tone down its articles and find a way to keep publishing. "I can tell you with absolute certainty, it's not true," said Hao Fang, chief editor of Rolling Stone China, referring to a permanent shutdown. "The second issue of our magazine should be on newsstands in April." Beijing has not issued licenses to foreign magazines for several years. So with the front door blocked, many foreign magazines have found a side entrance. A common practice is to find an existing local publication and strike a deal so it publishes significant amounts of foreign material, albeit after receiving government approval, and gradually strengthen its international identity. In Rolling Stone's case, the existing publication was Audio Visual World. The problem, industry insiders said, was that Rolling Stone jumped into the market in a bigger, brasher way than others, with the 144-page first issue, which has the look and feel of its US counterpart. advertising Rolling Stone crossed several red lines, according to individuals familiar with regulators' displeasure. More than half the content in the first edition is translated from the US edition, with articles about filmmakers Michael Moore and George Clooney, and writer Hunter S Thompson, yet it never received formal approval from the government. It also ignored requirements that the publication's original Chinese name be printed in larger type on the cover than its foreign name. In its first issue, Rolling Stone splashed its English name across the front in far larger type than its official Chinese title. Rolling Stone also reportedly rankled Chinese censors with a cover story about Cui Jian, the "father of Chinese rock and roll." Cui played in Tiananmen Square in 1989, with his most famous song, "Nothing to My Name," emerging as something of an anthem for protesters. Inside, it ran a feature about Mu Zimei, a controversial blogger who wrote extensively about her sex life until her site was closed by censors. "Rolling Stone was quite tricky," said one business executive working in the industry who spoke on condition of anonymity. The content was well beyond what the Propaganda Department could tolerate, aside from their not pretending to follow the rules."
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