Welcome to the Forbidden City: Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China
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Author: Calanthia Mei Presented at 2012 Agnes Scott College
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Welcome to the Forbidden City: Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China
- 1. Welcome to the Forbidden City: Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China Lan Mei Calanthia Lan Mei (Hubert Scholar’11) Huberst Scholar’ 11
- 2. Schizophrenia n. A psychotic disorder characterized by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as delusions), perception (as hallucinations), and behavior.
- 3. "goes back and forth, testing the line, knowing they need press freedom--and the information it provides--but worried about opening the door to the type of freedoms that could lead to the regime's downfall." —Elizabeth Economy
- 4. Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 5. How Free is Chinese Media Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 6. How Free is Chinese Media? • Potential harassment and prison terms • the world’s most sophisticated online censorship and surveillance system • Invitation to “have tea”—a euphemism for being summoned to the police station • Arbitrary detentions, unfair trials, repressive regulations and harsh sentences Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 7. What is the official media policy in China? • Constitutional protection for freedom of speech and press; • Vague definition of “State Secrets” o Revising existing Law on Guarding State Secrets (State Secret Laws) o Making government agencies protect a range of sensitive information o Requiring Internet companies and telecommunications operators to cooperate with authorities o Serving authorities’ political and economic interests Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 8. What are the primary censoring agencies in China? Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 9. How does Chinese government exert media controls? Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 10. How do journalists get around media control measures? Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 11. Title: “The Communist Billboard” Is Coming: Chinese State News Agency Occupied Time Square? Detail Processing: The government- controlled newspaper China Daily was among the promoted accounts on twitter for several months, but ironically enough, twitter is still blocked in China. Choices of raw material: Presenting different opinions through interviews; in this case, Richard Burger’s opinions on the ad’s design and effectiveness. Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 12. Future Study • How about the living condition of conservative media in China? • Is Chinese government really in a state of "schizophrenia" about media policy? Lan Mei “Deciphering Liberal Newspapers in China”
- 13. Thank You for Your Attention! Any Questions?
Editor's Notes
- How about begin our exciting exploration with a psychological, instead of a political, term: Schizophrenia? Schizophrenia n. As the dazzling animation effect shows, Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder characterized by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as delusions), perception (as hallucinations), and behavior. Ironically, political scientist Elizabeth Economy said the Chinese government is in a state of "schizophrenia" about media policy. As China becomes a major player in the global economy, authorities in Beijing are trying to balance the need for more information with their goal of controlling content and maintaining power . (click) To some extent, the Chinese government is in a state of "schizophrenia" about media policy as it "goes back and forth, testing the line, knowing they need press freedom--and the information it provides —but, at the same time, worried about opening the door to the very type of freedoms that could lead to the regime's downfall ."
- [click] As we see the phrases “the horrible media censorship in China,” “China is becoming a police state !” “the rising dragon knows nothing about media freedom” almost every day in American media, I guess some of you may be filled with the honorable, or say somehow idealist, sense of responsibility to save 1.3 billion of poor Chinese people living under such George Orwell styles of surveillance; the others may already get a “China fatigue.” But, systematically speaking, how free is Chinese media? What is the official media policy in China? What are the primary censorship agencies in China? How does Chinese government exert media controls? And, for your curiosity, how do journalists get around media control measures? Today, I will answer these questions in a more systematic manner, and based on my internship and later-on special contributor’s experience at Chinese liberal newspaper, I will try to analyze the last two questions “How does Chinese government exert media controls?” and “how do journalists get around media control measures” from an insider’s perspective.
- [click] Here comes the first question: how free is Chinese media? The watchdog group Reporters without Borders ranked China 174 out of 179 countries in its this year’s worldwide index of press freedom . As you can see from the map, the black color indicates “very serious situation.” And China, at least according this index of press freedom, is among the countries endangered by very serious situation of media freedom, sharing the gloomy color with states such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Burma.
- [click] Indeed, journalists face potential harassment and prison terms for violating rules laid down by the government and are therefore pressured into " self-censorship ." The experts claim that China may have the world’s most sophisticated online censorship and surveillance system. However, no matter what the subject is, online surveillance or print media censorship (which is the main focus of my presentation today), all the journalists and netizens have great chance of being invited to “have tea,” which is actually a euphemism for being called to the police station. Arbitrary detentions , unfair trials , repressive regulations and harsh sentences have recently multiplied, taking special aim at cyber dissidents and journalists who are active on social media, such as Sina Corporation’s micro-blog, the Chinese replacement of twitter.
- China's constitution affords its citizens freedom of speech and press, but Chinese law includes media regulations with vague language that authorities use to claim stories endanger the country by sharing state secrets . (US war on terrorism). Two years ago, the Chinese government revised its existing Law on Guarding State Secrets to tighten its control over information flows. China's legislature approved a revision to the country's law on state secrets that makes more explicit the government responsibilities to protect a range of sensitive information. But as many observers note, the definition of state secrets in China remains vague and thus could be used to censor any information the authorities see as harmful to their interests.
- [click] Not only Chinese definition of state secret, I think most of part of Chinese-style mechanism is largely mysterious to the population. You may wonder, What are the primary censoring agencies in China? More than a dozen government bodies are involved in reviewing and enforcing laws related to information flow within, into, and from China . The most powerful monitoring body is the Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department (CPD 中宣部 ), which coordinates with General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP 新闻出版总署 ) and State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT 广电总局 ) to make sure content promotes party doctrine. Xinhua, the state news agency, is considered a propaganda tool by press freedom organizations. On top of such national restrictions, provincial and local officials release their own directives .
- Firstly, censorship guidelines are often circulated weekly from the Communist Party propaganda department to prominent editors. The Central Propaganda Department gives media outlets directives , demanding that they kill controversial issues. Publicizing the CPD guidelines also invites punishment , as they may be classified as "state secrets," such as in the case of Shi Tao, a journalist detained in 2004 who is serving a ten-year sentence for posting an online summary describing the CPD's instructions for how to report the fifteen-year anniversary of Tiananmen Square incident. Secondly, most of time after the politically sensitive incidents happened, the government agencies require newspapers to publish their official press release instead of expressing their own opinions. Such official press releases are usually scrutinized with meticulous attention to details , and their word choices, as you can imagine, are mostly tedious. For example, after the downfall of the rising political star Bo Xilai very recently, Southern Weekly , the newspaper I worked for, published the official press release at the cover page for the first time to express their indignation to the censorship in a sarcastic way. Without any additional illustrations, the propaganda occupied the whole cover page of the most influential liberal newspaper after the biggest political drama in this decade. How ironic. Thirdly, even if some dangerous articles get the chance to be exposed to the public, the article could be quickly removed from both newspaper’s websites and all the newsstands within hours of its posting. After Wenzhou high-speed train crash last year, our sales department received a large amount of calls from readers saying they didn’t get the newspaper this morning as usual. In this case, it was highly possible that the government intercepted the delivery process in post offices. Last but not least, the Chinese government employs a diverse range of methods to induce journalists to censor themselves rather than risk punishment. It is not uncommon for journalists who overstep boundaries to be imprisoned. As of December 2010, China was tied with Iran for the most jailed journalists in a single country with at least thirty-four journalists imprisoned according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
- Through content analysis, I will use an international feature story piece I published last October in examining the art of titles, reporting perspectives, choices of raw material and detail processing. Last August, Xinhua, the state news agency operated by the Chinese government, leased a giant sign, known as a spectacular, on 2 Times Square, one of the most prominent ad spaces in Times Square.
- So here is how I wrote this article. Reporting perspective: In recent years, China has been actively projecting a new international image as a responsible and peaceful global player. China is learning the tools of soft power to gain a better reputation abroad. For example, this new spectacular ad in Times Square. Instead of directly analyzing the strategies employed by Chinese government to build up soft power abroad, which is a banned topic under censorship, I chose to write the feature story from a more detailed perspective—a communist ad board in Time Square, to reveal the grand PR strategies behind the scene and the hypocrisy entails in such a move: on one hand, projecting a new peaceful global player image and increasing its presence abroad, on the other hand, how can Chinese government increase its media influence abroad without loosening its media control at home? Besides, ironically, the design is totally Chinese, as if it is to expand the patriotic enthusiasm among Chinese citizens instead of targeting the Western audiences; To make the contrast, I created the title: “The Communist Billboard” Is Coming: Chinese State News Agency Occupied Time Square? Choice of raw material (interview): Although it is dangerous and unprofessional to voice my own dissent, I can present different opinions through interviews from different perspectives. For example, I quoted a Chinese media expert Richard Burger in my article. During interview, he said that “Obviously the growing presence overseas is something very important to China's leaders. But the proof will be the quality of journalism it produces. Chinese media need to impress the world with its objective and serious reporting . So far there has been no sign this will happen because most Chinese media continue to serve as a mouthpiece of government propaganda.” Also, he commented on the design, “The red screens with Chinese characters in white, and the banners saying things like "Chinese Wealth" and "Thrilling Chinese Athletics" simply do not resonate with American audiences. I believe this ad was made to impress the people of China and not its viewers in the US. This ad was designed to tell the Chinese people, "Look at how we are increasing our soft power overseas."” Very interesting. Detail Processing: Detail processing is a key part in playing around Chinese media censorship, for sometimes the government may not have enough time, energy and maybe background knowledge to discern the information the authors want to convey between the lines. For example, I mentioned in my article that, the government-controlled newspaper China Daily was among the promoted accounts on twitter for several months, but ironically enough, twitter is still blocked in China.
- Today my presentation mainly focused on the mechanism of liberal newspapers in China. How about being a conservative media in China? Due to recent Bo drama, the Communist Party also shut down few conservative websites, such as the Utopian (Wu You Zhi Xiang). Therefore, it can be argued that not only it is hard to be a liberal media in China, the struggle for existence is also an issue for the conservative branch. Therefore, it is highly possibly that the Chinese government is indeed in "schizophrenia" about media policy as it goes back and forth, testing the line. No matter what your political stand is, as long as you threaten the integrity of the Communist Party. You are out.
- Thank you for your attention – and now if there are any questions, I would be glad to answer them.