China Media Project comments on recent reports that the Chinese government is planning to bolster its overseas media presence with a 45 billion yuan expansion:
SCMP coverage last week suggested Chinese authorities are interested in creating an international news channel modeled on Qatar’s Al-Jazeera network.
“With Al-Jazeera as the model, the station would enjoy greater freedom of speech from the central authorities than Phoenix TV on political and current events,” one source said.
It is impossible to entirely discount the idea that a CCP-sponsored international network could be given more latitude in international coverage. But I find this quote from the SCMP utterly revealing, and I wonder exactly what this unnamed source said, in Chinese.
The “from” in the phrasing of the SCMP quote suggests that “freedom of speech” is something granted or denied at the will of the party leadership. And that, far from suggesting openness, fits squarely with the notion of “guidance” we have seen recently from senior CCP leaders on the question of the “global influence” of Chinese media.
If you are a lover of freedom, your knees may go weak when you see the words “freedom of speech.” But when someone whose prerogative it is to shut you up tells you they will give you sufficient “freedom of speech,” the subtext is still CONTROL.
