This is from the blog of an English-language "polisher" who works for Xinhua news agency. The piece that got picked up by Reuters (and passed on to CNN) actually crossed his desk. His view, like those of many observers here in China, is that Hu Jintao's statements are, at this stage, typical government claptrap. "Duffman says a lot of things."

Although China still labors under an uneven regime of censorship, there is a surprisingly wide array of opinion and internal debate that goes on, in print and on the 'net. danwei.org is always a good place to start if you're curious about what's going on in the Chinese media. They publish interviews, translations, and provide a very down-to-earth perspective on the Chinese press and its travails.