Free speech is the government not officially taking action against you for your speech.
This was just run-of-the-mill intimidation by those in power, of a free media. Really how far away is this from putting journalists in cages and having your audience shout at them at campaign rallies?
It is an issue of free speech and freedom of the press. I'm not sure why every time anyone mentions free speech these days someone is always ready to argue the definition. Whether it is "official" or not is totally irrelevant as the unofficial policy is the one that matters and everyone in China understands that.
This was just run-of-the-mill intimidation by those in power, of a free media. Really how far away is this from putting journalists in cages and having your audience shout at them at campaign rallies?