With the Olympic Games just a few months away, what will Beijing do with all of those pesky Western journalists running around the country flouting the regime’s restrictions on a free press?
If this article from China’s Global Geographic Times is anything to go by, the 2008 Olympic Games are likely to result in the mass jailing and expulsion of a majority of Western-trained journalists there.
Decrying the tactics of Western journalists, Qiao Xinsheng writes:
“Western journalists turn press conferences into battlefields – an ideological contest. Some Chinese-conducted meetings have been seen by a minority of Western journalists as places to stage political performances. They take every opportunity to pose questions that express their own political views and never miss a chance to spread their own prejudices, even going so far as to call the Chinese people’s love for their country ‘nationalism,’ and charging that the spontaneous patriotic displays of Chinese young people are controlled behind the scenes by the Chinese government. In some cases, Western media outlets have used news topics as “traps” that are virtually impossible for our officials to guard against.”
Qiao then discusses the issue of why Western journalists behave this way:
“The reason that they dare spread such nonsense about Chinese issues is that they don’t have to pay a price for it. … Therefore, the best way of putting a stop to the impunity of Western journalists in regard to Chinese issues is to force them to bear legal and social responsibility for their actions. ”
“Within the international community today, vilifying China is in vogue and fabricating lies about China has become the common practice of certain Western media outlets. We must change our strategy and adopt a more proactive attitude and put into effect legal measures to defend China’s national and societal interests and protect the fundamental rights of the people. … if a few Western journalists knowingly violate the law, incite the breakup of China, encourage the actions of terrorist elements, maliciously invent news stories or spread gossip to confuse the public, they should receive the most sever punishment allowed by law.”
By Qiao Xinsheng*
Translated By Mark Klingman
April 16, 2008
Global Geographic Times – People’s Republic of China – Original Article (Chinese)
In 2007, China promulgated and implemented rules for news gathering during the period surrounding the Olympic Games, amending previous news regulations. Foreign journalists in China can freely engage in news gathering activities and conduct interviews. This gives the foreign media in China more freedom to operate. But as we have seen recently, a few Western media outlets and journalists harbor evil designs, and their reports on China are deeply prejudiced. In addition to this, the way some Western media outlets operate has raised more than a few questions.
The traditional Chinese notion of news dissemination proceeds from the principle that “people are good.” With a beneficent attitude, we reveal to the world the accomplishments of Chinese society while presenting the Chinese people with current events taking place in all of the world’s countries. The Western news broadcast strategy, however, is quite different- they always emphasize the unique, sensational and adversarial aspects of news events. So their news broadcasts are loud, raucous, and overbearing.
A typical example of this is the press conference. Chinese reporters at a press conference proceed strictly by the book; they neither want to or at good at raising questions in a way that reflects their own political views. But Western journalists turn press conferences into battlefields – an ideological contest. Some Chinese-conducted meetings have been seen by a minority of Western journalists as places to stage political performances. They take every opportunity to pose questions that express their own political views and never miss a chance to spread their own prejudices, even going so far as to call the Chinese people’s love for their country “nationalism,” and charging that the spontaneous patriotic displays of Chinese young people are controlled behind the scenes by the Chinese government. In some cases, Western media outlets have used news topics as “traps” that are virtually impossible for our officials to guard against.
In the process of interviewing people about specific news events, Western media use a very suspicious tone while asking questions, which pushes the interviewee into a corner. Seen in the East as bordering on rude and unreasonable, this is behavior that precisely reflects the Western style of news reporting. Although in many cases this makes people uncomfortable and appears designed to stir up trouble, it is this proactive “attack-style” attitude toward news gathering that allows them to gain the upper hand.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the ongoing clash between the Beijing regime and the Western press.
Founder and Managing Editor of Worldmeets.US