MCLC: phenomenon of the Global Times

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Anne Henochowicz <anne at chinadigitaltimes.net>
Subject: phenomenon of the Global Times
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More liberal-baiting à la Global Times?

Anne

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Source: China Change (7/13/14):
http://chinachange.org/2014/07/13/the-phenomenon-of-the-global-times/

The Phenomenon of the Global Times
By Song Zhibiao
 

At the beginning of last year, a friend proposed that we conduct a
volunteer project — we do a sustained exposure and critique of the false
reports and fraudulent op-eds coming out of the Global Times (Chinese
version). I can imagine that this would be an onerous task requiring
updates almost every day. In the end, the proposal was shelved and became
a joke between friends. After all, it’s no fun cleaning up filth every day.

Before, the Global times was something that was never discussed in my
small circle of friends, and now, although we don’t talk about it that
much, it has gradually become a topic that, like a piece of gum, cannot be
easily shaken off. This in itself is proof of a kind of invasion. On
social media such as Weibo, it is being discussed more and more, just like
people used to talk about the southern newspapers, such as the Southern
Weekend and other papers from the same lineage¹.

The Global Times has invaded circles of public discussion as an “alien
object,” and the watershed event of this was the Southern Weekend New Year
Editorial incident at the beginning of 2013. At the time, the authorities
made the editorial in the Global Times the “standard opinion” of the
Southern Weekend incident, forcing all newspapers across China to reprint
it. Scattered resistance occurred in this process, and the futility of
this resistance highlights the aggressiveness of the Global Times. Ever
since, it has become this uncomfortable presence.

Even though it is laughed at as a joke, I have noticed that the Global
Times is mentioned in more and more of my friends’ articles. This is like
embedding a commercial for the Global Times in the text of a column. In
the liberal-leaning discussion of media transformation, it will be picked
out as an example to explain how the system is so barbaric, indicative how
much deeper it has intruded and how ubiquitous it has become.

On just about all of China’s hot stories, the Global Times is not afraid
to display its crude opinions: Chen Guangcheng, the Southern Weekend
incident, Pu Zhiqiang, Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central,”  Taiwan’s Sunflower
Student Movement – the list is long. It never uses complicated arguments
and does not care about logic, and some of its sentences don’t even make
grammatical sense. Its points are easy to pick apart, but this in no way
implies that it is easy to defeat.

The reason that the Global Times is difficult to defeat is not that it is
truthful, but rather that it shows such contempt for the truth. The Global
Times is hard to insult because it knows no shame. By tearing down the
standards of what is right, it sets itself “free.” In short, the Global
Times is always “victorious” not because it is correct, but because it
does not apply the principles everyone else respects.

Many friends have made ample revelations on the Global Times’ publishing
policies, editorial standpoints, and writing style, but it is impossible
to rely only on these to defeat it. In the domain of China’s current
public opinion, the organizations that have principles have been gradually
cleared out, and they do not have the ability to contend against the
Global Times. At the same time, the political environment has now become
extremely crude and ugly. Where jackals and wolfs thrive, no pure voices
are to be heard.

Furthermore, the Global Times’ vulgar articles and rude opinions go hand
in hand with certain characteristics of the kind of education Chinese
nationals have received. It is but the manifestation of the thinking
pattern propagated by the Party for dozens of years and a fact not to be
disputed. Other minds and thinking have been removed as soon as they
emerged, and, having done so for decades, what we have is the invincible
Global Times.

Those who criticize and expose the Global Time’s way of thinking are the
“other minds” I am talking about. There was a time when these “other
minds” triumphed over half a China. But after several rounds of
expulsions, they have now retreated and become further marginalized in the
market of ideas. The Global Times has become more and more “mainstream” as
more and more of these “other minds” were eradicated.

It is difficult to defeat the Global Times relying on arguments and
refutation alone. In a corrupted and dumbed-down public sphere, it has
obtained a super ability to reproduce: The more one talks about it, the
more it spreads. Discussion meant to expose its deception will not stop
it; instead, it will be stimulated and spread via whatever carries it.

Generally speaking, the rise of the Global Times reflects the collapse of
China and the increasingly nasty political trend. The values the Global
Times represents is not of great importance, nor is it to be feared, but
is that of a snobbish opportunist disguised in the role of a government
hack. It will continue to cause confusion for some time, but the force
that can overpower it eventually is hidden in the very contamination it
spreads.

The evil is not overcome but overtaken. The most practical way to deal
with it is to not talk about it. After writing this column, I will not
mention it again. It’s like a virus thriving in a particular political
eco-system, if we cannot stop it, we must then quarantine it. If we cannot
quarantine the crowd, we can at least quarantine ourselves. That way, we
will not become its carriers and unintended promulgators.
 

—————

¹ The southern newspapers refer to media publications of the Southern
Media Group in Guangzhou. These papers and magazines, including the
Southern Weekend, are known for their liberal-leaning content and were a
magnet for China’s best journalists in late 1990s and much of the 2000s.
Several waves of Party-ordered purges have since driven out their best
names, such as Chang Ping, Xiao Shu, and the author himself.

Song Zhibiao (宋志标) was a commentator with the Southern Metropolis Daily
in 
Guangzhou and well received for his commentaries on current affairs in
China until May 2011. He was suspended that month for his article
commemorating the third anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake. Now he
describes himself as a media watcher.