[Swprograms] Re: CRI

[jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Yes, Roger.  I think the phrase I hear being bandied about in Washington is "public diplomacy".  Someone more enlightened than I will have to explain to me the difference between that and "propaganda"...

Someone will have to also explain to me how the BBCWS has somehow emerged unaffected by the recent inquiry and the attendant political pressure placed on its "parent" and the entire corporation's newsgathering operations. 

John Figliozzi

----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Tidy <rogertidy@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 12:32 pm
Subject: Re: [dxld] CRI

> 
> I'd like to say a few words in support of the
> ever-developing and improving CRI.
> 
> Sure, we all know it's a government broadcaster.  So
> what?  So are many other stations, including VOA.
> 
> Second, concerning Mike's quote from Xinhua (the New
> China News Agency) referring to CRI's mission to
> promote "postive propaganda" about China: I think we
> have to have a proper understanding of the word
> "propaganda". Properly understood, "propaganda" is
> "ethically neutral", i.e. it is neither inherently
> truthful nor false and can be either malevolent or
> well-intentioned. The term, in fact, originates from a
> Latin word meaning "to propagate" and was first used
> by the Catholic church when it set up its Congregation
> for the Propagation of the Faith to spread the word
> amongst the faithful. The mis-use of "propaganda" as a
> negative term is really a phenomenon of the twentieth
> century, largely due, I suspect, to the creation by
> Goebbels of a Ministry for Propaganda. Even so, if you
> look at internal documents of the British government
> from World War Two and ater, you will find that the
> word is often used in its original and correct form in
> describing the broadcasting and publishing activities
> of the British. So there's is nothing disreputable
> about CRI being a propaganda station in the true sense
> of the term. My only criticism is that if the Chinese
> were better "propagandists" they would translate
> "propaganda" as "publicity" on their English newswire
> given the widespread mis-use of the term in popular
> usage.
> 
> Third, I remember listening to VOA in the late fifties
> as a very junior listener.  One report that has stuck
> in my mind concerns a "news" item about an
> anti-nuclear demonstration in Britain attented by
> thousands of Britons from all walks of life and of
> many different political persuasions.  This was
> dimissed by VOA with the insulting, and inaccurate
> comment, that "the demonstrators consisted mainly of
> youngsters in gaudy dress" - hardly an "objective" or
> "unbiased" report, despite VOA's alleged commitment to
> such journalistic values. Over the years VOA has
> improved, and so have most other governmental
> stations, but you still hear on allegedly impartial
> stations, such as the BBC World Service, news reports
> describing governments of which they disapprove  as
> "regimes" whilst those they do approve of are
> correctly designated as governments or administrations
> (i.e. "The Cuban regime" and "the Washington
> Administration").  Like VOA before it, CRI is
> changing.  It's much different and much better than
> the old Radio Peking and Radio Beijing and, as far as
> my own ears are concerned, it's getting better every
> day. Economic developments is indeed causing big
> problems in China and the Chinese government are
> trying to tackle the problem, e.g. by clamping down on
> corrupt officials and improving the life of migrant
> workers. Change in China will be incremental, just as
> it was in the USA.  Remember, it took the US more than
> 150 years before it introduced Black civil rights. The
> People's Republic of China is only 56 years old. 
> Don't expect too much too soon. Countries develop
> unevenly, according to their own history and their own
> needs at a particular time.  We shouldn't try to
> impose our way of life on the Chinese (or for that
> matter on anyone else).  Let them develop in their own
> way according to their own needs, and for God's sake
> stop preaching to the Chinese.  The folks who
> inflicted the Opium War on China, turned it into a
> semi-colony and put up signs in Shanghai saying "Dogs
> and Chinamen not allowed", etc.are hardly fit people
> to speak down to the Chinese now! Cultural imperialism
> can be as insulting as the old variety to those on the
> receiving end!
> 
> Roger Tidy
> 
> 
> --- Mike Barraclough <mikewb@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote Mike
> > 
> > > For one thing, I don't think that CRI and the
> > Chinese Communist Party are one
> > > and the same.
> > 
> > 
> > It's a Government broadcaster, they fund it and give
> > it its mission, and the
> > use of all distributions services for its mission
> > was part of a Party
> > directive which is why my contention is the words
> > are interchangeable in the
> > sentence of yours I quoted. I would suspect its
> > structure is similar to that
> > of Soviet era Eastern European international
> > broadcasters staffed by both
> > Communist Party Officials and journalists.
> > 
> > Here is a report I carried in the January 2002 DX
> > News column I edit for
> > World DX Club Contact:
> > 
> > CHINA Chinese Communist Party propaganda chief Dian
> > Guangen has called on
> > China Radio International, when speaking at its 60th
> > anniversary
> > celebrations, to become more competitive, speed up
> > reform and raise its
> > international profile. Convergence and technological
> > innovation, Ding said,
> > were vital for CRI's survival as an international
> > broadcaster. Therefore,
> > Ding said CRI should integrate its shortwave,
> > mediumwave, FM and online
> > services. Ding stressed that CRI's main role was to
> > promote "positive
> > propaganda" about China and serve as a mouthpiece of
> > the party and the
> > people. (New China News Agency via DXLD)
> > I am so disappointed. I thought it
> > was a genuine friendly station. From the above (DXLD
> > also printed the full
> > speech) we now know it is admittedly nothing but a
> > propaganda outlet of the
> > party. (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
> > 
> > I have traced the original long speech which is in
> > DXLD 1-192 available at
> > 
> >
> http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1192.txt
> > 
> > Mike
> > 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 

 
 


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