How the ABC sold out news values to
get access to China
Bananas in pajamas is the sort of not-political, uncritical of China programming allowed
behind the great Chinese firewall Chris Pearce
by John Fitzgerald
In mid-2014 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation signed a landmark
agreement with the Shanghai Media Group to establish a China-focused version of
the ABC's Australia Plus website. The signing took place on June 4, 2014, the 25th
anniversary of the Tiananmen square massacre – in which about 1000 students and
workers were killed by the People's Liberation Army forces in and around
Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
In the week leading up the event, the anniversary of the massacre was widely
reported on the ABC's English-language media in Australia, yet it was not reported
on the Chinese-language web pages of ABC international programming on the day
of the agreement. That conspicuous silence launched a new era for the ABC's
Chinese-language programming. No longer is there room at "your ABC" for general
news, current affairs reporting or commentary in Chinese, that is likely to give
offence to the Central Propaganda Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party.
I stumbled on this change by accident. On the June 2 and June 4, 2014, I was
researching Beijing's growing control of offshore Chinese community newspapers
through China Radio International, the Central Propaganda Bureau's international
media arm. I found, not surprisingly, that most Australian Chinese-language
newspapers demonstrated their loyalty to Beijing by making no mention of the
anniversary. Logging onto ABC Chinese programming, I was surprised to discover
that the ABC's coverage was identical to the media bought out by China Radio
International. There was no coverage of the anniversary.
Had the ABC sold out to Chinese censorship in signing the June 4 agreement?
The Australian media's commitment to fair, honest and open reporting is vital for
keeping markets informed, politicians honest, communities abreast of current issues,
and the public in touch with world affairs – not least about China. China's media, on
the other hand, is neither free nor fearless. Newspapers, magazines, television
stations and digital platforms operate at the discretion of the Central Propaganda
Bureau to promote the views of the most powerful in government and to silence their
critics.
AGREEMENT'S EFFECTS
Over the years leading up to the signing of the ABC's agreement with China, Radio
Australia's Chinese-language website carried a variety of news and commentary in
two sections, Newsletter and China in Foreign Media (translations). Ten or more news
items were uploaded each day in Chinese. In 2012, they included claims that
Chinese industry did not own all of the intellectual property for the high-speed rail
systems it was marketing abroad. In 2013, they carried Hong Kong media reports
about how President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign had failed to target top
officials. Early in 2014, the website reported that Japanese fighter planes had
challenged China's recently declared air-defence zone in the China Sea, and drew
attention to reports by Bloomberg and the New York Timeson the unexplained wealth
of China's top party leaders. It referred to newsworthy articles published by pathbreaking journals in China, including Yanhuang Chunqiu, shut down by Beijing
authorities shortly afterwards.
On the 25th anniversary of the Beijing massacre, however, it carried articles on the
revival of Confucian costume and on racism in Australian sport.
Head of the CPC Propaganda Department Liu Yunshan, one of the members of new sevenseat Politburo Standing Committee. Oversight for the new AustraliaPlus.cn website comes
under his propaganda unit. Feng Li
The new China site was finally launched in Shanghai on April 9, 2015. By then, the
ABC had closed its web-based Radio Australia Chinese service in favour of the new
platform, based inside the Chinese firewall at australiaplus.cn. These parallel moves
marked the end of all general news and current affairs on ABC Chinese language
platforms both in China and in Australia.
This was not how it was meant to be. The CEO of ABC International, Lynley
Marshall explained at the time of signing that the June 4, Shanghai agreement was
designed to "enable us to put the full range of Australia Network programming and
content from other Australian media into China and for China to connect more
closely with our media". Yet since the launch of australiaplus.cn, listeners and readers
connecting to ABC International's Chinese language services have been directed
away from the ABC site in Australia to a domain in China that describes itself as an
information "service tool" ... approved by the government of China.
The ABC's Shanghai Chinese language platform is clear on this point even if ABC
management is not. It declares in Chinese that it offers "all variety of information
about Australian culture, education, travel and financial affairs." It does not claim to
offer news or current affairs in Chinese, because it doesn't. The new site's content is
largely confined to stories and advertisements covering culture, education, tourism
and business opportunities in Australia.
INAPPROPRIATE PLATFORM
ABC Managing Director Mark Scott was in charge at the time of the Australiaplus.cn foray
into China
There is much to be said for promoting Australian service industries in the expanding
China market. But is the ABC an appropriate platform? Australiaplus.cn not only fails
to offer news and current affairs. It also supports China's higher strategic purpose of
eliminating reliable sources of news and information once broadcast through the
ABC International Chinese service.
The question is: why did ABC management come to imagine that the June 4
agreement was not only worthwhile, but worth celebrating?
One possible explanation is that China would periodically block ABC international
news and current affairs programming in Chinese from entering Chinese airspace.
Second, news and current affairs are expensive. The ABC has absorbed funding
cuts that have flowed through to ABC International, but an ABC platform based in
Shanghai is not affected by the prohibition applying to ABC advertising on programs
broadcast from within Australia. It can and does carry advertisements.
Third, the ABC board was trying to secure landing rights in China around that time –
the right to have ABC shown in hotel lobbies and airports and the like.
We can hardly blame the Chinese Communist leadership for trying to control media
platforms at home and abroad. Leninist party organisations are programmed to
mount deceptive public propaganda campaigns while operating clandestinely to
seize and exercise control over independent agencies targeted for penetration.
It is another matter when national public institutions – like the billion dollar a year,
taxpayer-funded ABC – endorse and encourage Beijing's efforts to silence critical
voices at home and abroad. Everyday compromises by our national institutions
betray all Australians, not just Chinese Australians.
Through its agreement with the Shanghai Media Group, the ABC has offered tacit
support for China's repressive media strategy at home and abroad. The national
broadcaster's dealings with China signal to the world that our commitment to values
and core interests is negotiable.
Professor John Fitzgerald ran the Ford Foundation in China for five years until 2013. He is
now director of the Asia Pacific Program in Social Investment and Philanthropy at
Swinburne University of Technology and President of the Australian Academy of the
Humanities.
Read more: http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/publishing/how-the-abc-sold-out-news-values-toget-access-to-china-20160411-go3zvs#ixzz488wbNdDv
Follow us: @FinancialReview on Twitter | financialreview on Facebook