The Guardian – August 18, 2007:
China has ordered its media to report only positive news and has imprisoned a pro-democracy dissident amid a clampdown on dissent ahead of the most important meeting of the communist party in five years.
In Beijing the municipal propaganda department has issued detailed instructions to editors on how they should cover the test of traffic-easing measures, which started today. During the four-day trial more than 1m cars have been ordered off the roads. Local newspapers and TV stations can only report on the improvements to the environment and transportation. Interviews with inconvenienced commuters or images of overcrowded buses are forbidden.
Most state media have also been banned from reporting on the collapse of a bridge in southern China which killed at least 41 people. Reporters said local officials punched them and chased them from the scene of Monday’s disaster.
“This crackdown is a legal gun to the head to responsible journalists who want to report on the basis of facts,” said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
they have FOX news in China?
I was in China a couple weeks ago……. watching CNN International.
The journalist started a story about “Increased Press Freedom in China for the Olympics.”
They were covering the story because the government was touting its “increased freedom” for foreign journalists. I could tell that the story was about to turn skeptical….. and POOF…. the screen went black for about 15-20 seconds. When the signal came back, the journalist was finishing her story, holding up an english newspaper with the headline “Increased Freedom for the Press for the Olympics”
Increased freedom….. um, yeah.
This whole toy recall thing has really pissed them off.
Yes, Fox news is available in China on the Internet (not sure about cable) and CNN is online and through cable but oddly the BBC news is blocked on the Internet but not on cable. WTF?
There is more to this story than what is reported in the international media.
My wife and I reside in China and my wife who is Chinese reads the Chinese news both on-line and in print and there seems to be none of the editing or suppression that is reported here. In fact, it seems to be the other way around as there is so much more that is reported in the Chinese news media, online, print and TV then what gets to the foreign media!! So WTF??
From what my wife tells me Chinese media is encouraged in exposing and reporting such things like in Beijing a restaurant was caught making pork steamed buns out of cardboard and garbage and corruption and other news like the toy manufacturer CEO hanging himself . So again, WTF???
My wife is out at the moment but when she gets back I’ll ask her about this bridge collapsing in south China and I’ll comment later.
Cheers
@ jlm
*LOL* Awesome.
4–Tihz==course, I don’t know or have any idea what the “truth” is in China==but what you say makes sense. If a government decides to muzzle the press for whatever reasons I can see a distinction between domestic/internal markets and external/international markets?
Whats more important to China right now? Unhappiness within its people or keeping foreign investment/trade/goodwill as high as it can be? I would think the later–so lie to the round eyes and take their money as long as they are foolish enough to do so. When internal strife rises to an unacceptable level, let the tanks roll in and squash the people flat, but keep that news out of the foreign press.
Don’t know if it true, but it makes sense.
#! LOL
#1 – LOL – Home run!
So ia a crackdown on democratic dissidents happy news in their view?
meh.
find me a conservative who wouldn’t happily to outlaw the liberal media — it doesn’t exist
TIHZ_HO,
From what you’re saying it sounds like they’re ok with reporting corruption and crime as long as it isn’t involed in public officials or public policy.
Ok, about this bridge collapse in South China – that was in Guanzhou and it was caused by a ship hitting the support. There were lots of pictures as my wife tells me and it was covered in all the media. So WTF?
#6 what’s more important to China right now? Unhappiness within its people or keeping foreign investment/trade/goodwill as high as it can be?
You are analysing from your view point which is not how Chinese view it. You need to understand the Chinese logic and culture as it is completely different from Western models. ‘Face’ is everything to Chinese and this takes precedent over whether or not foreign trade will suffer. To explain this would be too long as a comment.
When internal strife rises to an unacceptable level, let the tanks roll in and squash the people flat, but keep that news out of the foreign press.
That was 15~20 years ago and that China is long gone but the image of that remains. Think – America with segregation, White Schools, White Only areas – that does not exist any more in America – and was not that long ago either.
Many people outside of China are unaware that Deng xiaoping the leader who after Mao turned China around away from communism is famous in China for apologising for a lot of the terrible things that Mao did to the people of China – one being the persecution, imprisonment and execution of educated people. He said “We were wrong to do this” and the government compensated people with money and said in effect “This cannot bring these people back – there is no amount of money that can be paid in compensation”
Now Deng xiaoping ordered the tanks to roll in 1989 and this is still a forbidden topic – but as China evolves no doubt there will be someone to apologise for this as well.
These things takes time to happen as it took much longer for America to face and deal with the atrocities that were wrought upon the American Indians. It didn’t happen in 20 years now did it – more like 170 years? Slavery? Women to vote? Civil rights? Due process of law? And on and on it goes to today. What truths will our children learn about the things happening in America today? See my point?
To compare China today to what it was 20 years is nothing short of astounding at the progress that has been made more than any other country can ever make claim to, but the sarcasm and finger pointing prevails.
#9 While you see worried faces and people working in the US (regardless of the issues behind the accident), yesterday there was a riot in China because the government said it would stop looking to rescue those trapped in the mine and a big riot ensued
Yes, a tragedy on many levels as you point out. This is a problem in China – mining tragedies happen almost every week. The same as in America a generation or two ago – but not today. How can you demand China to turn on a dime while for generations mining disasters in America were also dealt with in a similar way? Double standard?
You are forgetting, or not not understanding that China is like America was a 100 years ago. What would America have said if back then if Europe were to point the finger and say how America needs to change immediately. Get my point?
Yes, the Chinese government does attempt to filter the news like the traffic story – but not as it seems. There is so much reported in China that never gets noticed in the west – unless there is an axe to grind it seems sometimes. I heard from my folks in St Paul there are stories that Chinese steel was used in the building of the bridge that collapsed. Is this fair and truthful reporting? No, it’s bullshit but in America right now this is just what Americans would like to hear. So this is ok but in China it is not?
Again I will say that for a good part of this century China has been behind a Bamboo Curtain – isolated. The progress made in just 20 years is nothing short of astounding when it took it took 200 years for America to get to where it is today.
What ever happened to the American sense of ‘Fair Play’?
Cheers
#12 I can see how you would think that way but this is not true. In fact it is the other way around so as it is a warning to those not yet caught.
China central government has difficulty in the administering local officials so a lot of these things which get reported is happens at a local level and not necessarily central government policy.
A few years ago the mayor of Shanghai was executed for corruption. There was also a famous case where officials and business people in Xiamen a major port in the central south of China were all executed for smuggling. My wife happened to know some of the business people who were executed as a matter of fact.
When time permits I must add a second post to my pitiful blog of one post about this and other things about China.
Cheers
I’ve lived in several small towns with a single weekly newspaper.
I’ve noticed nothing bad ever happens in a small town with a single weekly newspaper.
I suppose the Chinese are just now doing the same thing for probably the exact same reasons. No-one wants to hurt tourism and no-one wants to piss any advertisers, not ever.
#15 Pedro, sorry I wasn’t meaning you were doing that 🙂 I was pontificating rhetorically 😉
The Chinese government in a lot of ways is like the American goverment – not giving a damn what everyone thinks.
Hey Pedro, Have you ever had Garlic Honey Shrimp? That is Cantonese (HK) and delightful – but not found in Shanghai. 🙁
Cheers
#16 Gotta agree with that.
Cheers
#19 Yeah that’s right! I forgot about those!! Damn, I’m getting hungry now! 🙂
Cheers
I think we should all appreciate the fact that TIHZ_HO gives us a personal perspective from inside the country of China. I find his posts engaging.
I sure am glad we’ve outsourced our economy to China… So, we embargo communist Cuba (whose philanthropic generosity with medical services has had a positive impact around the globe) but we ship our jobs and money to communist China, who treats its citizens like cattle and suppresses freedom in China while ravaging the environment all over Asia and Africa.
#4 – TIHZ_HO – …Beijing a restaurant was caught making pork steamed buns out of cardboard and garbage…
And that cost the reporter dearly. If the bun story was true or not is a question, but let’s not kid ourselves here… The commies don’t want certain news to be leaked… it’s an old tradition.
bah #13 – the Chinese are just weird
#16: you should live in my town.
Herr Bush already started this sort of “good news only” thing a few years ago when he decreed that U.S. networks couldn’t show caskets of dead soldiers on planes coming home from Iraq. And you can bet the bad news we hear about the war is just the tip of the iceberg. Just ask the soldiers returning home. Why else did the UK ban soldiers from blogging last week?
#23, communism has nothing to do with it, it is cultural.
I work with Asians from all over. They are working in Malaysia and Thailand.
The cultural differences are difficult. Face seems to be everything to them. They never admit to any weakness or error, ever. They seem to constantly strive to discredit their American counterparts to make themselves look better. (Discrediting us usually backfires, but of course they don’t admit that either)
I am still learning to work with them (or around them at times). I just want to do the best job for my company, but it is very difficult.
My manager works out of Malaysia and is from China. I learned early on not to EVER disagree with her if anyone else is present.
#27: regarding #22, apparently you don’t get the concepts of sarcasm and irony.
#21 Thanks hhopper, I appreciate that! 😀
Cheers
Funny, isn’t it, that in America, the news tries to make people terrified, making them think that the world is going to end, terrorists, etc … But in China, they’re trying to make everyone happy and think that everything’s going fine …
I don’t know which one’s worse …
#23 Jägermeister, What you are saying is not correct!
That story of the cardboard and garbage steamed pork buns was on CCTV News!! That’s the official Chinese TV News!!
My wife showed me the video clip taken from CCTV News of the reporter filming how the the fake buns were made (with a hidden camera) on a national Chinese Online news web site!
I don’t think your comment of “The commies don’t want certain news to be leaked… it’s an old tradition.” is true today after that. 😉
Cheers
#25 – OvenMaster
I’ve always thought freedom of the press was an illusion. According to the local rag in my town we don’t have any crime and there aren’t even any traffic accidents. A domestic homicide isn’t considered newsworthy. There’s no such thing as a dead soldier.
There seem to be two main causes of this lack of comprehensive news.
First, there aren’t very many advertisers and the publisher doesn’t want to irritate any of them, especially the grocery store owners who pretty much pay for publication of the paper. These grocery store owners, being among the richest people in town, are very conservative and don’t want any boats rocked.
Second, the paper is owned by a chain with a very conservative outlook. The chain itself doesn’t give any orders but the local publisher is well aware of their political leanings and doesn’t want to get fired for “incompetence” or something.
So much for freedom of the press and no-one actually has to say or do anything to throttle it.
FOOTNOTE: #23
Jägermeister – I forgot to add that while it seems that the pork bun story was faked it does show that China News reported what they though to be a genuine story!
Would this have been handed differently in America?
I should point out that many times I hear my wife going “WOW, Damn look at this as she is online with Chinese news. There are MANY stories similar to the Pork bun story and news of factory owners arrested for poor working conditions etc.
She did get me in trouble about the China Airline crash in Japan, she didn’t read the story very well and though that was a Taiwanese Airline that crashed. I then saw the post here on DU, and on Yahoo saying it was China Airlines.
So I got on my soapbox and blamed the foreign media for tying in to poor QA in China only later to be told by my wife – sorry it was China Airlines after all! Eggs meet face!
So lessoned learned, she made the mistake but I put the (Chinese) eggs on my face. Measure twice cut once! 😉
Cheers
UPDATE!! The egg is off my face!!! That China Airline crash has nothing to do with Mainland China – Its Taiwanese
I had my wife look into this because the eggs on my face were those 1000 year old Chinese eggs – YUK
Lo and behold…
China Airlines IS Taiwan China Airlines!!! Nothing to do with PRC Mainland China!!
http://www.china-airlines.com/en/about/about.htm
PRC Mainland China Airlines called Air China is here
http://www.airchina.com.cn/en/index.jsp#
Confused? Well we were but we checked again and as we never flown the Taiwanese China Airlines!
Glad the eggs are off my face after all that! :DD
Cheers!!