MCLC: Chinese media must sing the main theme

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Chinese media must sing the main theme
***********************************************************

Source: China Media Project (5/18/12): http://cmp.hku.hk/2012/05/18/23157/

Who is Beijing Daily speaking for?
By David Bandurski 

The Beijing Daily is on a tear. Earlier this month, the paper — the
official daily run by the capital’s top Party leadership
<http://research.jmsc.hku.hk/maps/cmp/#na_30875> — led the propaganda
charge against the U.S. <http://cmp.hku.hk/2012/05/04/22365/> for its
involvement in the case of blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚). Earlier
this week, the paper embarrassed itself
<http://cmp.hku.hk/2012/05/15/22960/> with a mean-spirited call for U.S.
Ambassador Gary Locke to disclose his personal assets, which in fact have
already been disclosed.

Today, the Beijing Daily is beating its drums again, this time openly
attacking what it characterizes as the “poison” of the “so-called ‘freedom
of speech’ of the West.”

An editorial in the the paper today
<http://www.bjd.com.cn/10qrt/201205/18/t20120518_1933719.html> criticizes
“commercial newspapers and magazines” in China — that would be the likes
of Southern Metropolis Daily, Caixin Media, Shanghai’s Oriental Morning
Post, etcetera — of being infected with a Western notions of journalism
that they do not sufficiently understand.

The editorial argues further that the Western concepts of the media’s role
do not suit China’s unique “circumstances”.

“Chinese media must sing the main theme,” the editorial said, a reference
to the media’s role as propaganda vehicles for the CCP. “This is
determined by China’s political system, and accords with the realities of
China as a nation of 1.3 billion people. The fact is that for China to
develop it must maintain social stability, and it must create a public
opinion environment conducive to stability.”

Interestingly, searches for “Beijing Daily” on Sina Weibo have again been
disabled, after being restored earlier this week. This has to lead us to
wonder how factionalism within the Party might actually be playing out
right now through the Beijing Daily. In other words, we could be
witnessing the low-level competition of factional propaganda and media
control.
 <http://cmp.hku.hk/2012/05/18/23157/beijing-daily-search-banned-5-18-2012-
2/>

A partial translation of the Beijing Daily editorial follows:

HEADLINE in Beijing Daily: “The Social Role of the Media is to Sing the
Main Theme <http://www.bjd.com.cn/10qrt/201205/18/t20120518_1933719.html>”
(唱响主旋律是中国媒体的社会责任)

HEADLINE on QQ.com: “Media Fondness for Negative Reports is a Poisoning by
Western Concepts” (媒体热衷负面报道是受西方观念蛊惑)
May 18, 2012

Lately, among the so-called news reports that have attracted people’s
eyes, many have been negative reports — food safety issues, conflicts
between doctors and patients, construction quality issues, official
corruption. Issues like these have appeared in an endless stream. With the
build up made by the media, it has seemed that all food in China is
“poisonous”, all construction projects are “tofu architecture”, all public
officials are corrupt, all social tensions are unusually severe, and our
development path ahead is dark and troubled.
. . .
For some time, these sorts of reports have been a trend among certain
domestic media, particularly prevalent among certain commercial newspapers
and magazines (小报小刊). They enthusiastically disseminate negative,
extreme 
and provocative speech, full of rampant speculation and scandal. They
pursue low-brow novelty, and push inciting information, all in order to
attract eyeballs. The emergence of this phenomenon has happened partly
because of the influence of the so-called “freedom of speech” (新闻自由) of
the West, and partly out of the pursuit of profit, with a mind to earning
vulgar applause — forsaking the ethical bottom line of the media.

For some time, those Western concepts of journalism and news have been
savored sweetly by some. Some media workers (媒体工作者) even suggest that
the 
Western ideas like “freedom of speech” and the “fourth estate” are golden
rules and precious precepts. In their eyes, publicizing the development
achievements of the nation is “false,” and exposing darkness and misery is
an expression of “social responsibility”. In fact, they don’t even
understand views of the news in the West. In the two-party and multi-party
political environments of the West, different media have different
political standpoints, and for the sake of obtaining leadership
opportunities, they blow with negative news, raking up bad things about
their opponents . . .

Our national situation is different from that of the West, and imitating
these “squid-like tactics” (乌贼战术) will only break up and divide social
consensus, to the disadvantage of creating a harmonious social environment.

What Chinese society needs is not these media who indiscreetly criticize
under the banner of “objective reporting.” Rather, we need media that are
responsible and reliable, that truly protect the fundamental interests of
the nation, the public and the Chinese peoples.

. . . Chinese media must sing the main theme. This is determined by
China’s political system, and accords with the realities of China as a
nation of 1.3 billion people. The fact is that for China to develop it
must maintain social stability, and it must create a public opinion
environment conducive to stability. This is where the responsibility of
Chinese media lies, and it is also where the fundamental interests of the
people of our country lies.