[Swprograms] Re: CRI

[atlsvo@xxxxxxxxx (maryanne kehoe)]

OK, I have been following the debate here in regards to CRI comparing to
VOA/BBC/ propaganda/etc....there is one big difference:


If a VOA BBC, and a CRI reporter do a story on, say, the Falug Gong,
guess which one of those reporters is going to see the police at their
door and being taken downtown for some questioning and government
lodging? (To say nothing of losing their job _just for performing their
journalistic duties._) It's a no-brainer!

I don't trust Xinhua and anything that comes out of their mouth---for
reasons I have covered here previously. They're nasty people. I would
much rather tune to VOA or BBC for at least some resemblance of debate
and opinion, and not CP propaganda. Besides, unless one's been under a
rock for the past 16 or 17 years or so, the CP has been pretty much out
of business, or in a diminished role where they held government sway
previously. 

Just my opinion-your mileage may vary.



Maryanne  


 
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Sender: swprograms-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx From: jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, Mar 22, 2005, 3:23pm To: swprograms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject:
[Swprograms] Re: CRI 
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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