[Swprograms] Re: Why is BBC World Service reducing its short wave provision?

[Daniel Say <say@xxxxxx>]

> Mike
> 
> For one thing, I don't think that CRI and the Chinese Communist Party 
> are one and the same.
> 
	Oh?  New director is a stalwart party man from
	SAFRT.  
	Some of the staff care about CCP, many don't.

	However they have to, in news sources, use the 
	Xinhua (New China) News Agencies redigests of 
	Associated Press, UPI etc. reports.
	(Have you seen that Xinhua is the most common
	source, even in English language, of news stories
	in Google?)

	All media is part of the Propaganda (3. Roman Catholic 
	Church A division of the Roman Curia that has authority
    	in the matter of preaching the gospel, of establishing 
	the Church in non-Christian countries,....) or 
	Party Discipline section.

	I've had reports from staff of long delays in items while
	they waited for the 'party line' as we might call it
	before making a simple announcement (Nobel prize for 
	literature to a Chinese, for example).

	External reports not playing on China are more open.
	But everyone, even in China, can read around gaps and 
	who, what, where in domestic reports.
	This is more difficult in the U.S.A. where the Fox news
	monopoly has no competitors  ;-)

> This starts to veer into a geopolitical discussion, but I would observe 
> that the same views that you expressed here were once widely held of 
> other one-party states.  As much as these states appear to be 
> monolithic, there are very real fault lines and fissures in their 
> seemingly brick like authority.  The situation in China is very complex 
> and multi-layered.  The economic liberalization there and the rise of 
> an extremely viable (economically) and demanding (politically) middle 
> class is working changes to that country that are real and lasting.  
> Yes, those in power are seeking and using all the means at their 
> disposal to stay there.  Some of that is due to fear of what happens if 
> central authority pulls back too far or collapses entirely.  But forces 
> like the ones being unleashed in China cannot ultimately be contained.  
> Change is coming and--if you listen astutely as we used to during the 
> Cold War--you can hear it happening, even on CRI.  If the Chinese 
> leadership is astute, it will change with it.  Whether it is or not, 
> we'll have to wait and see.
> 
> John
> 
> Sunday, March 20, 2005, at 07:59  PM, Mike Barraclough wrote:
> 
> >
> >> John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
> >
> >> Certainly, I don't think that CRI's commitment to public
> >> service broadcasting principles with respect to the way it reports the
> >> news is at or near the BBC's level at this point.  But if one looks at
> >> where CRI and its predecessors were just a short time ago and where 
     .... 65 lines more 
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