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

[John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I really like that we are having a robust discussion on this list 
again--even though it seems I might be losing the argument.  :-))

But, Dan, are you saying that the trends aren't toward more open speech 
in China and that the organs once tightly controlled by the Party are 
starting--certainly very slowly--to work away from those strictures?  I 
ask--respectfully--because you are bound to have greater insight into 
this than me.

John

On Monday, March 21, 2005, at 02:34  AM, Daniel Say wrote:

>> 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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