贾宁扬：没有社区的支持，就没有《大中报》的今天

随着中国政府进一步扩张海外势力打击国外言论自由，敢于批评中国政府的加拿大微信用户们的账号遭封，证明了腾讯已经成了中国政府的御用工具。《大中报》发行人贾宁扬也是被封号的用户之一。在过去六个月里，身在大陆的读者无法看到贾通过微信发送的《大中报》文章，而他在微信“朋友圈”里的信息也都神秘消失了。
 
Some WeChat users in Canada who dare to be outspoken about the Chinese government face an outright ban by Tencent, the tech giant seen as a tool of Beijing, as China extends its censorship reach into Canada. Jack Jia, the publisher of this newspaper, is among the suspended users. The articles posted through his accounts have been invisible to users in China since six months ago, and the content on his Moments has mysteriously disappeared.

可在20年前，《大中报》可并并非中国政府的“冷遇”对象。相反，作为少数华文媒体之一的《大中报》颇受中国政府“恩宠”，是领馆的“同化对象”。2005年，贾宁扬荣幸被邀，参加在武汉举行的向海外媒体人士提供好吃好喝好招待的世界媒体大会。这封邀请函表明中国政府看中了海外华媒的《大中报》的使用价值，认为它可成为利用对象，为共产党向海外进行政治扩张效力。但当贾宁扬看穿了媒体大会的真是动机后，不满之情溢于言表。

But Chinese News wasn't what Beijing deemed a hostile media outlet twenty years ago. Instead, as one of the very few printed Chinese language media back then, it was courted aggressively by Beijing. In 2005, Beijing invited Jack Jia to attend an all-expenses-paid World Media Forum in Wuhan that provided luxury accommodations and gourmet dining. The invitation was a sign of Beijing’s intention to include the paper in its outreach campaign to promote its geopolitical interest abroad. However, when the real intent of the forum revealed, Jia felt disgusted.



贾宁扬称：“他们是让我们这些海外华媒免费刊登中国政府颁布官方信息。”他在接受《金融时报》的采访时称：“当我看到这些免费信息的内容时，发现它们与《新华社》的通讯稿别无二致。我们从来没有刊登过这些信息。”

"They provided free content from the state media for us to disseminate," said Jia. "But when we took a look at their content, we saw it all read like Xinhua, the government mouthpiece," Jia told the Financial Times in an earlier interview, referring to the state news agency. "We did not use the content at all."

《金融时报》报道说，共有200多家华文媒体刊登了中共提供的免费新闻。而贾宁扬的这一决定使《大中报》鹤立鸡群。但《大中报》的反叛行动还不止于此。几十年来，《大中报》不仅拒绝刊登中共提供的任何信息，还发表专栏对中国政府的行为进行批评质疑，从而使《大中报》成为敢于从批评角度对中国进行报道的少数华文媒体之一。

Jia's rejection has set his paper apart from about 200 Chinese language media outlets that have reprinted content heeding Beijing's requests. But Jia's defiance didn't stop there. Over the decades, not only has the paper refused to help Beijing disseminate propaganda messages, but it also published columns that are vocal against Beijing, making the paper one of the few that dare to cover Beijing critically.



《大中报》对中国的反叛立场让其成为中国政府打击言论自由的对象，并让其遭受种种经济上的制裁，包括受到广告商的冷落。华人超市往往会将拥护中国政府立场作为选择广告商衡量标准，因此《大中报》在华人超市的广告促销活动中几乎都是“坐冷板凳”。

The dissenting voice has put Chinese News in the crosshair of Beijing's crackdown on free speech, rendering it to suffer economic punishments that include the boycott by advertisers. Most advertising campaigns of Chinese supermarkets, which are particularly active in linking ad-buying to pro-Beijing stance, have avoided selecting Chinese News altogether.

悉尼科技大学中国研究副教授冯崇义对《金融时报》表示，中国领事馆对“敌对性”媒体采取经济制裁措施。他说：“领事馆将悄悄地观察，找出这些敌对媒体，并让那些俯首帖耳的爱国公司和组织不在这些报纸上刊登广告。”

Chinese consulates are behind the economic sanctions against non-collaborative media outlets, Chongyi Feng, an associate professor in China studies at the University of Technology Sydney, told Financial Times. "The Consulate will quietly notice the hostile media and direct companies or patriotic associations not to place ads in those papers," he said.



中国政府对异见声音的压制运动使《大中报》遭受更为严厉的制裁措施，封锁其微信账号，让《大中报》在加国民主社会更难作为独立媒体发声。

Beijing's growing efforts to silence critical voices have put additional pressure on the paper, with the punishment extending to the ban on its WeChat account, making it increasingly difficult to play its role as an independent media in this democratic country.

但《大中报》却赢得了那些其具有相同立场的读者和广告商们的尊重和支持。它收到来自支持西方民主的社区成员的广泛支持和帮助，以及他们的慷慨赞助。面对中国不断增加的经济和政治压力，贾宁扬表示是社区人士的鼎立支持给了他勇气和决心去追寻他的理念和对抗中国不断增加的影响力。

But Chinese News has earned respects from like-minded readers and advertisers. It has received great supports, as well as generous donations from the community members who favor Western democracy. In the face of escalating pressure from Beijing, Jia said it is the value of the supports that have given him the courage to pursue the cause he believes in and to stand up against China's influence.

贾宁扬称：“我信奉民主理念，正是因为追求民主我才来到加拿大。我要制止中国对加国施加影响并向我们洗脑。但没有读者，广告商和捐赠者等这些社区民主力量的支持，《大中报》就没有今天。”

"I believe in democracy, and the democratic values have drawn me to the Western counties," said Jia." I want to stop Beijing from influencing Canada and brainwashing us. But without the valuable support from our pro-democratic readers, advertisers and donors, we are unable to make it this far."