-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current
&issue=2001-11-10&id=1279
}}}>Begin
FEATURES
In bed with the Reds
Jonathan Mirsky exposes the reciprocal relationship between
Rupert Murdoch and Zhiang Zemin
On 11 September Phoenix Television, a Hong Kong station
watched by millions in China, carried news of the terrorist attack on
the United States. While many Chinese were clapping and
laughing in public at the news of the disaster they believed America
deserved, an unnamed commentator on Phoenix said, �We need to
look at ourselves and see if we are doing anything wrong, and
America needs to look at itself and see if it is doing anything
wrong,� and, �Why aren�t other countries hated like the USA?�
�Me? I held up a train.�
Let�s think about that. Phoenix is 40 per cent owned by Rupert
Murdoch. In Hong Kong the polite word for bumsucking is shoe-
polishing. Few foreigners have polished more Chinese shoes more
energetically than Rupert Murdoch, and it has worked a treat. Mr
Murdoch�s News Corporation is now to be allowed unprecedented
direct access to television sets in south China�s Guangdong
province. News-Corp will share this access with AOL Time Warner,
whose chief executive officer, Gerald Levin, called President Zhiang
Zemin �my good friend� at a conference in Shanghai, where Time
magazine had just been banned for carrying articles that Beijing
disliked.
For this beginning of access to China�s 350 million families with television, Mr
Murdoch and Mr Levin will ensure that Chinese Central Television � the voice of the
government � will become, in the words of a Chinese offi
cial, �available on ordinary [American] television channels�. American television is
not very sophisticated, but even its usually supine audiences may sit up when CCTV
refers to the �criminal splittist Dalai Lama�. Mr Mur
doch would find nothing amiss. In late 1999 he said of the Dalai Lama, �I have heard
cynics who say he�s a very political old monk shuffling around in Gucci shoes.� He
went on to say how ghastly Tibet had been before the
Chinese occupation, although for years his China correspondents had described China�s
brutality in the region.
I declare an interest. I was posted to Hong Kong between 1993 and 1997 as the East
Asia editor of the Times. During those years I saw the paper change from one keenly
interested in reporting and analysing China to one so
apprehensive that the editor spiked a piece by me on cannibalism during the Cultural
Revolution � this is an uncontested fact �because he was having lunch that day at
China�s London embassy. In recent months, the Times�s
reporting and comment on China have included material and views which Beijing cannot
have liked. But early in my time Mr Murdoch had already removed the BBC from his Hong
Kong satellite, and soon sold the colony�s South C
hina Morning Post, said to be the world�s most profitable newspaper; he said that
their views were driving China �nuts� and he wished to do business there.
Mr Murdoch�s views on criticising China were made plain yet again last March when his
son James, his father in the audience, commented on the foreign media�s negative
reporting on China: �I think these destabilising force
s today are very, very dangerous for the Chinese government.� As with his father�s
opinion of Tibet, James�s view, word for literal word, is the same as Beijing�s. Of
course, the Murdochs do not need to tell their editors
what to write about China on every issue; they just know. That is why the editors at
HarperCollins broke their contract with Chris Patten to publish his East and West,
claiming that the manuscript was no good, although t
he senior man editing the book said that it was one of the best things he had ever
read. Mr Murdoch chastised his executives for their clumsy obedience. �I told them not
to publish Patten�s book.... We are trying to get s
et up in China. Why should we upset them? Let somebody else upset them.�
Mr Murdoch explained in a speech last spring how he would broadcast in China. �News
broadcasts that seem unobjectionable in some countries are seen as destabilising in
others. Each of the countries in which we operate has
its own rules, some embedded in history and culture. Above all, we have to respect
these cultures ...we can strike a balance by deferring to our host�s views about what
we may broadcast in countries in which we are guest
s, while refusing to distort what we are able to broadcast. If a film is unacceptable
in a country in which we operate, we don�t show it.�
That fits well with his son�s warnings that foreign media must not �destabilise�
China. But then Mr Murdoch, realising that this philosophy might sound too
acquiescent, drew an analogy. Every country has its limitations o
n broadcasting, he noted; in Britain, for instance, there is the nine
o�clock rule about what can be shown if children are watching, and
undue invasions of privacy are discouraged. This is supposed to
equate with China, where entire Internet sites are closed down and
their operators imprisoned if they mention the Tiananmen killings.
And Beijing appreciates the Murdoch approach. Not long ago he
invested $325 million in a 12 per cent share in the China Netcom
Corporation. President Zhiang Zemin�s son, Mianheng, sits on the
board of this company. The deal broke Chinese regulations barring
foreigners from direct equity participation in mainland telecoms.
Never mind: the regulations were avoided by doing the deal through
China Netcom�s subsidiary in Hong Kong. And here is a further
example of a favour to Mr Murdoch. Not long ago a school in the
town of Fenglin burned down and many students died because
they had been compelled by some of their money-grubbing
teachers to assemble unsafe fireworks. At first the facts were
denied, even by Premier Zhu Rongji. Only one television crew was
allowed into Fenglin: Phoenix, Mr Murdoch�s partly owned
company.
A British reporter in Beijing described what happened: �The
Phoenix piece from the village, followed by a long and self-serving
panel discussion, went out about three hours before Zhu Rongji
held his annual press conference. Phoenix�s version of events
followed the official line, word for word, all packaged up in its perky
Hong Kong/Taiwan style, and wagged its finger pompously at
irresponsible foreign journalists �who would never carry out such
reporting in their own countries�. But Zhu, at his press conference
just hours later, acknowledged that the government�s information
on Fenglin was wrong, tipped his hat to the foreign press (highly
unusual), and committed himself to a continuing investigation....
It�s hard to see how Phoenix could have been more wrong in tone,
content and timing. Hilarious.�
Some people may think that while News-Corp itself is not such a
good thing, its new deal with Beijing and the AOL agreement is
good news. The Financial Times, for example, after beginning its
leader of 5 September by saying that the deals demonstrate �that
the kowtow still works�, suggested that �in principle, broadcasters
from democratic countries are likely to pose a challenge to the
Communist party�s control of information and entertainment�.
Only in principle. Rupert Murdoch, once a citizen of Australia, is
now an American, like AOL�s Gerald Levin, whose �good friend� is
President Zhiang. Both these citizens of democracies will be
content to follow Beijing�s directions. They know that several well-
known domestic papers have just been closed for displeasing the
party, and many foreign newspapers are barred from the Chinese
Internet. In May, according to a story in the Washington Post, an
in-house memo circulated within AOL on how to answer this
question from the media: �What would AOL do if the Chinese
government demanded names, e-mails or other records relating to
political dissidents? The answer recommended in the memo was
vague. �It is our policy to abide by the laws of the countries in
which we offer services.... We will work closely with government
officials and our partner in China to understand and comply with the
regulations that govern online services in China.��
As for Rupert Murdoch, he is already on-side. In 1998, according to
the official Chinese news agency, President Zhiang Zemin
�expressed appreciation of the efforts made by world media mogul
Rupert Murdoch in presenting China objectively and co-operating
with the Chinese press over the last two years�.
Return to top of page
� Send comment on this article to the editor of the Spectator.co.uk
� Email this article to a friend
� 2001 The Spectator.co.uk
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
