Fifty dead at least according to first reports and another Chinese disaster censored in local press: Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

As Chinese rescue workers and emergency services raced to respond to the deadly explosions that rocked the port city of Tianjin Wednesday, another group of Chinese officials, with a very different purpose, also sprang into action: the country’s censors and security officials, intent on limiting coverage of the disaster by conventional media outlets and social media.…