Jlallen,
I read Mr. Martin's links. What do you say? Please in an honorable way. I trust the best out of you as an idealogist. We have a lot of US reporters all over China can attest what you want to know besides the Chinese themselves.
Part of the links:
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
BEIJING -- What is perhaps most remarkable about Saturday's exchange between President Clinton and President Jiang Zemin is that the debate, covering sensitive topics from human rights to Tibet, was broadcast live all over China, via China Central Television-1, the government's main television station.
"I think this is a first," said a senior editor from the station, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We've never done live coverage of a press conference between Chinese leaders and leaders from another country before."
In fact, live television coverage of important political events is a relatively new development here. Last fall, when Jiang visited the United States, all events were taped, edited and shown later. Difficult discussions, like portions of the joint news conference between the Chinese and American presidents in Washington, or possibly embarrassing scenes, like Jiang swimming in Hawaii, were edited out.
But Saturday, any Chinese citizen could have watched the two presidents debate the merits of arresting dissidents and the 1989 crackdown on student-led demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Any citizen, that is, who happened to be tuned to CCTV-1 at midday on a blisteringly hot summer Saturday.
For although the news conference was broadcast live in its entirety, it was never listed on television schedules or otherwise advertised. And, hours after a lively debate in which both presidents performed admirably, the conference effectively disappeared -- replaced by an edited version for the evening news.
Chinese television has just recently moved toward live coverage of important political events -- although clearly with great ambivalence. Aside from a brief period in the spring of 1989, when press controls were eased and some episodes in the democracy movement were broadcast live, only highly ceremonial events, like treaty signings, or scripted speeches by Chinese leaders were shown as they happened.
State television produced 10 live broadcasts from the National People's Congress session in March, including a somewhat controversial news conference in which a Western reporter asked the newly elected prime minister, Zhu Rongi, to comment on the Tiananmen crackdown.
But Zhu, after all, is a reliable party man. This time, who knew what Clinton might say?
Nonetheless, said the CCTV editor, the station's leaders decided to go ahead with a broadcast. He said the decision was partly a reflection of the government-controlled media's greater openness, and partly an acknowledgment that it has become harder to conceal news from Chinese citizens these days.
"We didn't hesitate to show it live even though we knew that lots of sensitive topics could come up," the editor said. "But if we didn't do it there are other ways for people to get news, from other stations or from the Internet."
So it was there for an hour. And then it was gone -- to the disappointment of the many Chinese excited about the Clinton visit who said they would have tuned in if only they had known.
The handling of the news conference followed what is becoming a familiar pattern: sensitive moments from live broadcasts of the National People's Congress, including some of Zhu's remarks and the retirement of the popular foreign minister, Qian Qichen, were also later relegated to the cutting-room floor.
On Saturday, hours after the news conference, extensive reports by the official New China News Agency omitted Clinton's statement that the "tragic loss of life" in Tiananmen Square was "wrong." Nor did they include an American reporter's question about the detention of four dissidents in Xian and 2,000 other dissidents reported to be in jail. They did, however, obliquely acknowledge that Clinton has raised the issues of Tiananmen, Tibet and human rights and gave Jiang's responses.
The 7 p.m. news showed brief, bland segments of each president's opening remarks, and a picture of the American reporter asking the question on dissidents -- with the sound deleted. A 9 p.m. "special report" carried a five-minute account of the state banquet this evening, followed by a two-minute segment on trains.
In the process, some interesting television was lost. At the end of the live mid-day broadcast, the CCTV anchor for what had been scheduled as a 15-minute news conference but turned into a major impromptu political debate, came up with a most fitting epilogue:
"It seems that to communicate with each other takes time," he said, adding, "Anyhow, face to face is better than back to back."
Brian H. |
