BBC News lies about Chinese news media -BBC新闻关于中国媒体的谎言
BBC News lies about Chinese news media -BBC新闻关于中国媒体的谎言
I’ve been in China nearly a year, and every day I read BBC news as well as a number of other sites through Google News. Today I noticed a story about China cancelling an Oasis gig (this news is actually around 5 days old, but still, I wondered what the reason was for the cancellation).
我在中国近一年了。每天我都看BBC新闻并且通过Google新闻看很多其他网站上的新闻。今天我注意到了一条是关于中国取消了Oasis的演唱会（事实上这个新闻是5天前的了，但是我还是想知道取消的原因。）
To my suprise, I was greeted with the news that the Chinese government had cancelled their gig due to their ‘Free-Tibet’ ties. I thought this was a little extreme (since I doubt Noel and Liam could find Spain on a map, let alone Tibet). Reading on, the BBC detailed some more performers who had been refused entry or had controversial appearances, including Bjork:
让我惊讶的是，我听到的新闻是中国政府因为乐队成员‘藏独’的关系而取消演唱会。我觉得这有一点偏激（因为我怀疑Noel和Liam是不是能在地图上着到西班牙，更别提西藏了）。继续看，BBC还详细提到了其他表演者遭到拒绝或者引起争论的内容，其中包括Bjork：
“Last year, Icelandic star Bjork shouted “Free Tibet!” after a song about independence performed during a Shanghai concert, which went unreported in the state-controlled Chinese media. ”
“去年，冰岛明星Bjork在上海演唱会上表演完一首关于独立的歌以后大喊‘藏独’，此事没有被由国家控制的中国媒体报道过。”
Unreported? That’s weird…I’m sure I remember reading about it somewhere…Probably in local blogs…
没被报道吗? 很奇怪…我肯定在哪里读到过… 很可能是在当地的BLOG上…
http://www.danwei.org/music/raise_your_flag_declare_indepe.php
http://shanghaiist.com/2008/03/04/did_bjork_actua.php
Oh yeah, that’s right, it was in my local newspaper:
喔对，在当地的报纸上：
http://www.shanghaidaily.com (search ‘bjork’ 搜索‘bjork’)
…oh and in that other newspaper, the national one:
…喔，还在另外一份报纸上，全国性的：
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-03/07/content_6518698.htm
…and on this one:
…还有这里：
http://www.china.org.cn/culture/2008-03/13/content_12484616.htm
…oh yeah and on that um website thingy..you know…the big state-controlled media one…
还有网站…要知道…这是最大的国家控制的媒体…
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/07/content_7740989.htm
The last line of the Xinhua article is particularly unreported:
新华文章中最后一行特别没有指出的是：
“It [China's Ministry of Culture] said it will tighten the scrutiny of foreign artistic groups coming for performance in China to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”
“文化部将在进一步调查核实后，依法进行处理，并将在今后对外国来华演出的文艺团组进一步严格把关，防范类似事件再次发生。”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/07/content_7740989.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-03/07/content_7741004.htm （Chinese/中文）
Thank liberty that the BBC is now on hand to break this news – almost on its anniversary!
感谢民主，BBC现在及时发布了这条新闻-差不多在它的周年纪念！
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March 3, 2009 at 12:26 pm
feeling strangely fine to read the truth in the morning as a starter of a whole day’s coaching. well done big guy.
March 3, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Well, not wanting to split hairs too much, but…
The China Daily report you link to was published on March 7 – five days after the offending concert.
The BBC report was published on March 4 – two days after the concert.
China Daily also reported the concert on March 4 but, here’s the important bit, it didn’t mention Bjork’s splittist activities.
It seems, as will be familiar to any China media watcher, that the Western media first picked up this negative story and the Chinese media stayed schtum until Beijing gave permission to report, with the government response as the “correct” angle.
So there is some credibility to the BBC’s claims.
Another point on the China Daily story. It says Bjork chanted “Tibet, Tibet”. The BBC said she chanted “Free Tibet”. Maybe some who reads this might have been at the concert and can shed some light on the matter. Having inside experience of the Chinese state media, I suspect the BBC report is accurate – the Chinese media couldn’t bare to write “Tibet” and “Free” in the same sentence.
March 3, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Look at the dates and content of your articles – the local media waited for a response from the Ministry before daring to report.
We all know the BBC is knocked out by public school prats who have stereotyped views of China but don’t be a prick – a rash of quoting some bureaucrat pontificating about the hurt feelings of the Chinese people weeks after the event does not make for free and frank local reporting. Catch yourself on.
March 3, 2009 at 4:24 pm
This is not the Chinese media; it is the English language media for foreigners, such as yourself, living in China and for overseas audiences.
There was no reporting in the Chinese language media, except on blogs–and those were harmonized.
Your blog is, sorry to say, misinformed and misleading.
March 3, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Sean, Belov, I think you miss the point: Nobody is denying that the media is state-controlled, but to print that a story was ‘unreported’ when it clearly was reported by the very same ‘state controlled’ websites seems like bad journalism.
“Misinformed and misleading”? I read the story in China and then I read a year later on a British website that the story I read a year ago was unreported. Confusing maybe, misleading – no.
I am a firm believer in the neutrality and quality of the BBC (having used its services every day for around 15 years), and so am not afraid to say when something they report as fact is, in fact, not.
March 3, 2009 at 6:06 pm
“Reported late”, “reported with errors”, “barely reported” all could have been acceptable. “Unreported” is simply a lie as djod points out. You can’t deny that.
Chinese media’s made huge progress recently in reporting stories that couple of years ago would never have seen the light of day. Sure they often appear slightly late and have bias to them…but change doesn’t come overnight and it sure as hell doesn’t allow the BBC to exaggerate facts to the point where they become lies.
March 3, 2009 at 7:58 pm
@oytun
I would say the BBC’s “lie” was more about sloppiness than malice. The reporter who wrote the latest Oasis story probably just pulled up the Bjork story to fill in the background, which said accurately at the time that the incident has not been reported by the Chinese media. Check the final par of the BBC story dated March 4.
I’ve got no problem with public supervision of journalists. No one is perfect. But holding the BBC up against the Chinese state media? You’re having a laugh aren’t you? The Chinese media isn’t making progress – the leadership has merely worked out how to use it to manipulate the masses in the post propaganda era.
March 3, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I don’t understand what’s wrong with the “Free Tibet” comment? I thought China did free Tibet and claims it was the right thing to do?
I wonder also about the outrage of the “lie”, but the comment ““It [China's Ministry of Culture] said it will tighten the scrutiny of foreign artistic groups coming for performance in China to prevent similar incidents from happening again.””
March 4, 2009 at 5:42 am
As someone previously pointed out, the news wasn’t reported in Chinese language news. English language news is not the same.
March 4, 2009 at 10:12 am
Actually, it appears that you may have missed the point–perhaps if I did not make it clearly.
The Chinese language media is very different from the sources you cite. English language media is run by the Propaganda Dept, while Chinese language media has to answer to them but is not directly controlled by them. So you get two medias in China not one.
I see no indication in your description that you are anything other than an English teacher and so I am not surprised you came to incorrect conclusion. This happens to bloggers in China much–think that what they have is news, but is only the known to many.
March 4, 2009 at 11:21 am
@Belov
There is no independent media in China, its all state-controlled..whether it’s in English or Chinese.
Nice try changing the BBC’s “Chinese Media” to “Chinese Language Media” – sorry but nowhere does it say anything about language in BBC’s statement. Xinhua and China.org still are considered Chinese Media, even when reporting in English.
So the originial point still stands, this story did NOT go unreported in the state-controlled Chinese media.
No amount of bending and twisting is going to change this fact. You could say BBC were sloppy, or that they neglected to exclude the English language papers from the statement, but trying to claim they were right in what they said makes you look worse than the Chinese propaganda department.
The only thing misinformed is your interpretation of this post.
March 4, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Oytun
Find me a Chinese media, English or Chinese, report dated between March 2 and 4 2008 on Bjork’s Tibet outburst.
The English language papers had NOT reported what she said by March 4 last year!!!!! They reported it on March 7, three days after the BBC reported that the Chinese hadn’t reported it. Do you expect the BBC to be telepathic or something? Perhaps the best way for the BBC to proceed is for them, in future, to say: XXX incident has not been reported in the Chinese media, but is likely to be in a couple of days when the controlling authorities have had time to mull over their response.
March 4, 2009 at 12:40 pm
The article on the BBC website has now been revised to reflect the facts:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7919299.stm
“Last year, Icelandic star Bjork shouted “Free Tibet!” after a song about independence performed during a Shanghai concert.”
@Belov
I am ‘nothing more than an English teacher’, but luckily one of the rare few that can read and understand English. I like to think that makes me special!
March 4, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Most Chinese I know read it in the HK media before it appeared in the mainland media, Chinese language of course.
March 4, 2009 at 1:41 pm
@No Way Sis: BBC are reporting on the matter ONE YEAR later…so no, I don’t think any telepathic abilities are necessary.
March 4, 2009 at 1:58 pm
[...] the good life in Shanghai BBC News lies about Chinese news media -BBC新闻关于中国媒体的谎言 04 Mar BBCNews lies (again), corrects error about Chinese media reporting of Bjork concert [...]
March 4, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Check out:
http://www.djod.co.uk/2009/03/04/bbcnews-lies-again-corrects-error-about-chinese-media-reporting-of-jork-concert/
for more info about the update.
March 4, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Oytun
Sharp observation. You’re right, they are reporting on the event ONE YEAR later. And like I said earlier, the journalist sloppily cut and pasted background from the March 4 2007 story to the March whenever-it-was this year story. It’s hardly a lie, just a sloppy trainee journalist error.
I look forward to seeing your campaigning blogging persuading China Daily to make a correction. Perhaps you could point out to them that Bjork chanted “Free Tibet” and not “Tibet, Tibet” as they reported. Love to know what their reaction is.
March 4, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Global Times reported the incident on March 5, not March 7. Yes there was a delay, but no it did not go unreported.
March 4, 2009 at 2:45 pm
If my maths serves me correctly, March 5 comes after March 4. Maybe the BBC failed to use their hotline to Global Times that day to see if the latter intended to run the story.
March 4, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Oh great – ignorance and ineptitude is a valid excuse now? You should pass this latest finding to the propaganda department..they’ll hire loads of ‘trainees’.
Correcting Chinese media for anything doesn’t sound too interesting – the almighty BBC however is another story.
March 4, 2009 at 5:43 pm
No they’re not an excuse, but ignorance and ineptitude do not equate to lying.
I would have said the Chinese media was in greater need of correcting and supervision than the BBC. But I suppose you don’t want to do that because you know the undemocratic Chinese government-controlled media won’t pay a blind bit of notice. At least the BBC will rectify errors if people point them out. Now, where are those March 4 or earlier Chinese media stories about Bjork?
March 4, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Man..you TOTALLY miss the point…you actually think ANYONE in the world thinks Chinese media is more trustworthy than the BBC???! This was a satirical ‘dose of their own medicine’ back at the BBC.
This is now beyond the point but relating to the whole ignorance/ineptitude vs lie argument: unless you are working for the BBC, you have no proof of the original intent. People could use that excuse whenever they lie and get caught – including the Chinese government. “Oh sorry, our new journalists are just interns, they heard about the stories 3 days too late and couldn’t make out exactly what Bjork shouted out due to their bad English…” See where we can go with this…?
March 4, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Oytun
I was just using the vocabulary you gave me. You didn’t make it clear; that as well as ignorance and ineptitude the BBC was guilty of lying. What are the reasons for the mistake? Ignorance, ineptitude, or lies? Is it all three, one of the three or a combination of two of the three?
Where did I suggest anyone might think the Chinese media is more reliable than the BBC? There you go, you admitted it. So why waste time lambasting the BBC when you know the Chinese media is the one that is really in need of a lesson in standards?
What medicine are you referring to? The BBC made a mistake. You pointed it out. They corrected the mistake. So What? Is that your idea of satire? I’m not laughing.
March 4, 2009 at 8:40 pm
No point talking anymore about semantics, whats funny and whats not. BBC changed their article based on this post by djod, and that’s that.