An Empire, If You Can Bear It

China, where the media is openly controlledrnby the state, is an example of "softrntotalitarianism"; Johnson contrasts thernChinese system with the Japanese modelrnof speech control, wherernsuch freedoms exist on paper butrnare attenuated in part by cartelizationrnof the news media—pressrnclubs in Japan can impose collectivernor individual penalties on journalistsrnwho report news . . .