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

[Daniel Say <say@xxxxxx>]

> 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 your bike!

	China is more open personally, but as far as state
	media (and most is state, except in Shanghai, Guangzhou
	and a few small other places where a private station
	is allowed), they are as closed as ever they were.
	The staff no longer wear Mao jackets, but they have
	one in the closet if they have to.

	The control is internalized.  Most know how far they
	can go, even in Hong Kong where the minor press is 
	slavish to the Beijing line.  	
	
	What you find in domestic press is :
	"   Newspapers now report previously taboo subjects 
	such as industrial accidents and social problems, 
	but sensitive subjects, such as the death in January 
	of ousted leader Zhao Ziyang, can be buried on back
   	pages and left off broadcasts altogether."
	See more at   Linkname: Google Search:
          http://google.sh/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=ISO-8859-1&ncl=http://www
          .khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp%3Fxfile%3Ddata/theworld/20
          05/March/theworld_March595.xml%26section%3Dtheworld
       Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 04:00:11 GMT
	  including 
   	Linkname: China cracks down on rogue journalists
          http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews
          &storyID=2005-03-23T032204Z_01_JON312081_RTRUKOC_0_CHINA-REPORT
          ERS.xml

	  and
	   Linkname: Rules issued to ensure fair journalism
          http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/nation/userob
          ject1ai956611.html

	The Reuters story above mentions the "warning shot" at the 	
	very popular  Southern Weekend paper
	" Last year a former editor-in-chief of China's 
	best-selling newspaper was jailed for 12 years for 
	corruption and another editor was held for
   	five months without charge, drawing fire from critics 
	who said aggressive journalists were being silenced."

	So while the domestic press is bold enough to take on 
	petty corruption, and with a signal, larger pieces, they
	let the party line speak for itself.  It is not as 
	Stalinist? as it once was, yet the iron fist is in 
	the velvet glove if necessary.  There are more outlets
	at the provincial and state level.  Not the thousand
	channel universe but not the 2 channels only in big
	cities of a few decades ago.
	But the glut of media from every organization, ministry
	and regional and city or provincial group has proved
	uneconomic, so the government, sparing a half dozen party
	organs, has deemed that most papers should close if not
	economic and that forced subscriptions to the Nat Enq
	and NY Post shall cease.  Other broadcast media has been
	forced into business conglomerates to be able to compete,
	including with a promised media opening under the WTO.
	Radio has gone out to be commercial and hit niches such
	as traffic, music, but the news all is filtered--and 
	read--from the Xinhua teletype with only local stories
	reported live and with a local touch.  Good enough 
	for most people, and the wiser ones know what is up and
	how the press is manipulated.
	But as the 'mountains are high, and the emperor isf
	very far away' the provinces and Shanghai can get 
	away with a lot.  Hunan TV is quite modern and watched
	all over by domestic satellite.  Provincial radio isn't
	as extended but people do listen to other regional radio
	where they can receive it.  Shortwave listening to 
	the Voices of America, Russia, BBC and Radio Australia
	give them a perspective and shortwave listening to the i
	Chinese, not the World or English Services, is common.

	Bringing it back to shortwave, Chinese media don't dare phrase 
	or cover stories in the western way when they have been given
	moral guidelines or it involves a Chinese external relation
	affairs.  Nor will any notice be made of most politicians
	except the major leaders and spokespersons. Otherwise
	you'll just hear about the "Ministry said...." which
	the inner circle will have agreed is the line.
	
	Pick up a copy of 
   Title Media, market, and democracy in China : between the party line
   and the bottom line / Yuezhi Zhao
   Published Urbana [Ill.] : University of Illinois Press, c1998
   Contents 1. Party Journalism in China: Theory and Practice -- 2. The
   Trajectory of Media Reform -- 3. Media Commercialization with Chinese
   Characteristics -- 4. Corruption: The Journalism of Decadence -- 5.
   Broadcasting Reform amidst Commercialization -- 6. Newspapers for the
   Market -- 7. Toward a Propagandist/Commercial Model of Journalism? --
   8. Challenges and Responses -- 9. Media Reform beyond
   Commercialization

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