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中国媒体控制波及海外华媒?

Chinese government censorship affects foreign Chinese media
来源: 大中报 南茜(Nancy Jin)
北美的华文新闻媒体是否越来越受到中国政府的影响?据”自由之家”研究分析员库克(Sarah Cook)称,在全球各地的新闻编辑部里,“中国因素”无所不在。库克本周发表的就此论题进行探讨的报告指出,中国政府已经直接影响到华文海外媒体的独立性。

Are Chinese News outlets in North America increasingly under the influence of the Chinese governments? The reality is that the ‘China Factor’ exists in newsrooms around the world, according Sarah Cook, Freedom House research analyst. Putting the issue under microscope, Cook found, in her report released this week, that Chinese officials have directly impeded independent reporting by Chinese media based abroad.

谈及独立的平面媒体所面临的经济挑战时,库克采访了本报的发行人贾宁扬。报告援引贾宁扬的话称,(华人社区)主要平面媒体未经审计的发行数量“已经对我们的发展和我们为社区服务的功能产生了负面影响。”

In addressing the issue of financial challenges confronting independent print media, Cook interviewed Jack Jia, the publisher of this newspaper.  It quoted Jia as saying that unaudited circulation number of major print media “has negatively affected our ability to grow and affects our ability to serve the community.”



“自由之家”是一家位于美国的,具有影响力的研究机构,其主张推进民主运动和政治改革。以下就是库克发表的名为《中国审查制度的巨大阴影:中国媒体限制对世界各地新闻媒体产生何种影响》的报告中略经编辑的节选。

Freedom House is a U.S. based, reputable research organization, advocating on democracy and political reform. Below are the edited excerpts of Cook’s report The Long Shadow of Chinese Censorship: How Chinese Media Restrictions Affect News Outlets around the World.

中国侨民是全世界数量最多和分布最广的侨民之一,据估计有超过4000万中国侨民遍布在130个国家中。东南亚是海外华人最大的聚居地,但是在过去20年中,前往北美、欧洲、拉丁美洲、非洲和澳大利亚留学、工作或定居的中国大陆移民数量显著增加。

The Chinese diaspora is one of the world’s largest and most widely spread, estimated at more than 40 million people distributed in 130 countries.  The largest concentration of overseas Chinese is in Southeast Asia, but over the past two decades, the number of mainland Chinese moving to study, work, or settle in North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Australia has grown significantly.



在1989年,CCP(中国共产党)因为天安门民主运动赢得海外华人的支持而感到恐慌。从那以后,共产党就一直寻求对海外华裔社区和服务于华裔社区的媒体施加更多的经济和政治影响力。一系列的学术、政策和智库研究,都已经揭示了共产党为了实现这一目标而采取的各种方法,并与此同时努力扩张中央媒体去对遍布世界各地的私营华媒所施加的影响力。

In 1989, the CCP became alarmed by the support the Tiananmen Square prodemocracy movement garnered among ethnic Chinese abroad. Since then, it has sought to increase its economic and political influence over these communities and the media outlets that serve them.A range of academic, policy, and think tank research has documented various approaches adopted by the CCP for achieving this goal, combining expansion of state-run media with efforts to influence privately owned Chinese-language outlets scattered around the world.

欲对错综复杂的海外华媒进行全面深入刨析超出本文范围,但三个关键因素值得文本探讨和关注。

It is beyond the scope of this report to delve into the full complexity of diaspora Chinese media,but three key dynamics are worth noting in the context of the present discussion.



媒体老板与北京的关系
Media Owners’ Ties to Beijing

而对于其他海外华媒的拥有者来说,与中国政府以及国有媒体机构保持密切关系,可以给他们带来各种经济和政治利益,包括获得中国业务商机及国有企业的广告业务,和成为中国人民政治协商会议(CPPCC)的成员。在香港和台湾,这些优惠便利的附属条件通常是媒体公开或隐含地传播共产党传递的信息,同时回避某些负面报道。来自澳大利亚的学者指出“某些可能会得罪中国政府的敏感报道……因此往往会被刻意回避。”

For owners of other overseas Chinese media, close ties with the Chinese government and state-media entities can provide various economic and political benefits ranging from preferential treatment for business initiatives in China to advertising from state-owned firms to membership in the CPPCC.As in Hong Kong and Taiwan, these typically come with explicit or implicit conditions to amplify the party’s messages while shying away from certain negative reporting. Scholars from Australia note that “sensitive news stories that would potentially displease the Chinese government … are often studiously avoided.”



 
操纵广告竞争
Manipulated Competition for Advertising

由于受到经济和技术变革的影响,海外华媒,尤其是平面媒体面临着巨大的经济挑战。华裔社区的企业因受到来自领事官员的直接或间接压力,可能并不愿意在那些对中国政府持批评态度的媒体上刊登广告。相反,一些企业会在和北京关系牢固的华媒上做广告,是因为它们得到领馆官员的暗示,这么做会令他们在中国运营的企业获得丰厚的的业务回报。

Like their mainstream Western counterparts, Chinese diaspora media–particularly the printed press–face challenges to their financial sustainability due to economic and technological changes. Businesses in the Chinese community may be reticent to advertise with outlets taking a more critical stance towards the Chinese government, either because of direct or indirect pressure from consular officials. By contrast, Chen says some businesses advertise in the strongly Beijing-aligned China Press because they have received hints from officials that this will yield rewards for their operations in China.

在某些情况下,独立媒体面临的经济挑战可能并不是源于中国的政治压力,而是由于对手的不公平竞争的行为。多伦多每周三刊的《大中报》因擅长报道华裔社区密切关心问题而出名,其创办人贾宁扬指出,与中国政府建立关系良好的华文报纸公布虚假发行量,使它们在争取广告收入时获有不公平的竞争优势。由于媒体信息目录中发行量信息不清,某些华文等报刊缺乏透明度和独立的发行量审计,以及不愿透露真实姓名的业内人士提供的派送路径信息等等使这种看法具有一定可信度。贾宁扬认为对于这种现象的产生原因,来自于盈利胜过一切的企业文化以及其政治动机。但其最终结果是“会对我们的发展能力产生(负面)影响,并且还会影响到我们服务于社区的能力。”



In other cases, financial challenges confronting independent media may not be the result of Chinese political pressures but rather of unfair business practices by competitors. Jack Jia, founder of the Toronto-based semi-weekly Chinese News, known for its strong reporting on topics affecting the local Chinese community, contends that the circulation numbers of more Beijing-friendly Chinese-language papers are inflated, giving them an unfair advantage when obtaining revenue through advertising.Unclear figures in media directories, a lack of transparency and of independent circulation audits by publications, and distribution route data relayed by an industry insider who wished to remain anonymous lend credence to such suspicions. Jia attributes the cause of such practices as much to a business culture where profit trumps principle as to political motivations. But the ultimate impact is that “it [negatively] affects our ability to grow and affects our ability to serve the … community.”

 
国有媒体内容取代其他信息来源
State Media Content Supplanting Other Sources

不仅影响媒体报道的内容,还会影响到海外华媒的经济状况的第三个因素其涉及国有媒体机构向海外购买广告,或是向华文新闻媒体提供免费信息内容,以期提高共产党对中国全面报道的控制能力。据新西兰的华媒学者安妮-玛丽·贝雷(Anne-Marie Brady)称:

A third dynamic that affects both the content of media coverage and the economic landscape for diaspora media involves state media purchasing advertorials or providing free content to Chinese-language news outlets, contributing to an overall increase in the Communist Party’s ability to shape coverage of China. According to Anne-Marie Brady, a scholar of Chinese media from New Zealand:

以前,香港和台湾的新闻集团是新闻的主要来源,但是在过去10年中,它们基本上已被过多的免费华文报纸赶出市场,而这些报纸上的内容几乎都是来自中国大陆媒体。只有少数海外华语报纸有财力抵制免费内容。海外的华语电台和电视台也同样过多地转播中国大陆媒体的节目,并排斥其他华语节目来源。

Fomerly Hong Kong and Taiwan-based news groups were the main source for news, but in the last ten years they have basically been driven out of the market by a plethora of free Chinese newspapers, which derive virtually all their content from the Mainland media. Few Chinese language newspapers outside China have the financial resources … to resist the offer of free content. The same goes for Chinese language radio and television stations abroad, they too relay Mainland media programmes and exclude other Chinese language sources.



由于这些因素的作用,再加上CCTV(中国中央电视台)等国营媒体积极渗入华裔社区以及世界各地有线电视运营商,目前许多海外华人不断直接或间接地从受中国政府影响的媒体中取新闻。据媒体研究教授孙皖宁(Wanning Sun)称,截止2010年,CCTV已经控制了大约75%的北美华语电视台。澳大利亚学者冯崇义(Feng Chongyi)指出:“CCP的‘思想政治工作’非常成功……虽然生活在澳大利亚,但是来自中国的‘新移民’仍被为受中国政府主宰的华媒所左右。”

These dynamics along with the proactive penetration of state-run outlets like CCTV into Chinese communities and cable providers around the world contribute to a situation whereby many overseas Chinese continue to get their information from news outlets directly or indirectly influenced by the CCP and its information controls. According to Wanning Sun, a media studies professor, as of 2010, CCTV controlled about 75 percent of Chinese-language television stations in North America.  Australian scholar Feng Chongyi notes: “The ‘ideological work’ of the Party is so successful that … although living in Australia, the ‘new migrants’ from China are still surrounded by the Chinese media dominated by the Chinese government views and narratives.”
 


尽管如此,CCP的影响力却并不是绝对的。虽然害怕报复,一些当地企业仍然继续在并不受宠的媒体上做广告。虽然一些媒体老板可能与北京关系密切,但因为需要在竞争激烈的市场维持其可信度,并欲保持媒体人的专业精神,以及对中国政府的不满日益加深等因素仍促使它们对中国大陆媒体,尤其是印刷媒体禁止触及的内容进行报道。因此,对北美报纸几篇近期报道观察,看到了对纽约时报就温家宝家庭财产报道的摘录,以及对香港1989年天安门大屠杀的纪念活动的特殊报道,以及美国国会就中国人权问题的听审的全版报道。

Still, the party’s influence is far from absolute. Some local businesses continue to advertise in disfavored outlets despite the fear of reprisal. And, even when owners may have close ties to Beijing, the need to maintain credibility in a competitive market, journalists’ professional dedication, and a sense of growing discontent with the government from within China prompt reporting on topics that are off-limits to mainland media, especially in the printed press. Thus, a review of recent reporting in several North American papers found excerpts from the New York Times story on Wen Jiabao’s family assets, a special feature on the Hong Kong vigil commemorating the 1989 massacre, and a full page story on a U.S. congressional hearing about human rights in China.



与此同时,民主社会更开放的政治气氛也可以抵消狭隘的施压和不正当的商业行为。作为一个媒体老板,贾宁扬在回顾自己的发展之路后称:“当我们在1993年起步时,我也一心只想着赚钱,实际上并不知道应该如何去运作一个负责任的媒体。但是(在加拿大)发展近10年后,我开始明白新闻和言论自由对一个社会是如此重要。”

Meanwhile, the more open political atmosphere of a democratic society can offset illiberal pressures and questionable business practices. Reflecting on his own evolution as a media owner, Jack Jia said: “When we started in 1993, I was also money driven and didn’t really know how a responsible media operates. But after about ten years [in Canada], I started to understand that journalism and freedom of speech are so important for a society.”

编注:本文曾在2013年10月《大中报》上发表。
Note: The story was published in Chinese News in October, 2013.




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