Timothy Balding
 
 
Panel 2: How are Chinese news media controlled?

Timothy Balding
CEO, World Association of Newspapers

I guess that most of us here who work for organizations which endeavour to further human rights have more than once been treated to one or other epithet which characterize us as at worst simple-minded and culturally and politically ignorant, at best, idealists with no sense of political realities and nuance. Adepts of what the French call 'angélisme', dogooders, naive. Innocents abroad, in short, complicating the lives of the diplomats and politicians who REALLY grasp what's going on and understand the levers of change and how they operate.

Today, with China, the shoe has never been so firmly and clearly on the other foot, as politicians and their appointees, though increasingly wriggling in discomfort, continue to maintain that cosy conversations about human rights behind closed doors, which in truth we are actually never quite sure take place, are the most effective means of persuading this and other dictatorial and authoritarian regimes to change their ways and give up their virtual monopoly on power, information and opinion.

The experience of China and the Olympics is, in fact, yet one more example of the terrible naivety and short-sightedness of those in leadership of our governments, our sports organizations or our businesses as they deal with repressive regimes like the one in place in Beijing. History, if nothing else, amply demonstrates that dictators do not voluntarily and spontaneously give up power, do not loosen the chains, do not remove the gags, after sudden illumination and conversion to belief in freedom and other human rights. They do so when they are forced to, generally through a combination of intense internal and external opposition and dissent.

The idea that awarding the Games to China would, alone and in itself, change the repressive politics of that regime and usher in a new era of respect for human rights was thus condemned, in my view, from the outset, particularly in the absence of forceful, aggressive, binding, monitored demands about human rights from the international community. It was nothing much more, in fact, than a pious and rather innocent hope.

In this session we are going to look at the ways in which the media continue to be controlled in China. We shall hear different perspectives on this question from four distinguished speakers. I shall introduce each of them in turn before giving them the floor but, at the outset, would particularly like to welcome and salute the courage of Gao Yu, who has flown here from China to share her experience and views. It is precisely people like her, prepared to stand up for their opinions, who, if sufficiently numerous, will one day change China. Such change simply will not, can not, happen without such extraordinary, brave individuals, who make the momentous choice to enter into resistance against the lies, the injustices and the repression of human rights. It is our duty, and should be that of our Governments, our businesses and our organizations, to support people like her in every possible way. And it is not only a question of duty, but one of necessity, if we really do want to contribute to a better future for the great Chinese people.