Inside Story: When Bias Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

The Sunday Age

Sunday April 13, 2008

Edwin Maher

Much is made of China's control of its media, but it is not the only one guilty of pushing its perspective. Edwin Maher reports.

WHEN I left Melbourne to first work in China, my daughter handed me a gift at a farewell dinner given by my three children. It was a small book containing the thoughts of the Dalai Lama. My sons looked at their young sister and said: "Dad might have trouble if they see that when he lands in Beijing." My daughter was perplexed, not knowing the historic and political situation between China and the leader of the Tibetan Government in exile.

I did bring the book but, five years on, had no idea I would be reading news on state-run television describing the Dalai Lama as leader of a "clique bent on separating Tibet and pushing forward explicit pro-independence activities".

At China Central Television (CCTV) I anchor bulletins on the English channel, CCTV9, now dominated by news about Tibet and the Olympics. But are they different in perspective from how the Western media is covering them? Definitely.

Working for China's state-run national broadcaster, my role is not to put forward my own views on the Olympics or Tibet. At the same time, I have to read the daily output of stories, from a Chinese perspective. News of Tibet is regarded as highly sensitive and most stories come through the state-run Xinhua news agency. Much of the agenda for news editors and reporters is focused on trying to balance the coverage from Western media outlets.

You may suspect I am coming from only one side and, like many of the players in this high-stakes drama, trying to change your view might be like trying to give the Dalai Lama a green tea party in the Great Hall of the People.

Like me, some of my foreign colleagues from the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, who are copy editors at CCTV 9, have their own views on Tibet and China's hosting of the Olympics. None have left over these issues - a fact that does not necessarily mean we agree with all the stories they edit and I read.

Yes, the Chinese Government and the netizens of the world's most populous country are unhappy, especially with the way that overseas media are making China feel like it is losing friends fast. But words from the likes of Kevan Gosper, vice-chairman of the IOC Coordinating Committee, give some comfort. In an interview on the CCTV bulletin I anchored last Tuesday night, Gosper claimed that most people in countries "including my own" don't support the views of the Olympic torch protesters. While those comments might have been met with some derision in Australia, Chinese people welcome them.

Letters from foreigners here and abroad supporting China in her hour of need appear every day in the English language China Daily, which, while taking the government line, has reported some of the negative (to China) news about Tibet and the Olympic protests. On Thursday, a picture of Kevin Rudd speaking in Mandarin at Peking University dominated the front page above a caption saying he doesn't agree with calls for an Olympic boycott over Tibet. His comments about human rights at a press conference on Thursday were also reported. China Daily said Rudd "reiterated his concerns about alleged human rights problems in Tibet".

Explaining her decision to boycott the Beijing Olympics, swimming legend Dawn Fraser was quoted in The Age on April 9: "When you hear the Tibetans tell their terrible stories about what the Chinese government has done to them, it is just awful." Whether Fraser has the facts and figures to back her view isn't mentioned. However, such generalisations are seen here as typical of those who may not be able to substantiate them.

Glaring mistakes in Western media coverage of the Tibet riots last month are constantly highlighted in the Chinese media. Germany's RTL network has apologised for using a picture "in a wrong context". The picture, taken on March 17 in Katmandu, showed baton-wielding Nepalese security forces confronting Tibetan protesters. But the TV station said it was a scene in Tibet involving Chinese security forces. An anti-CNN site has attracted swarms of signatures. At the time of writing, more than 3 million Chinese and foreigners had signed another on-line movement against "false and biased" Western media reports.

Are the claims of bias legitimate? Western media say Chinese coverage of Tibet is biased and China regards Western coverage of Tibet as biased. Here are two recent examples I noticed. An article in The Washington Post on April 8 claimed "Chinese television showed no footage of Monday's events (in Paris), which were covered extensively by international TV networks and websites". The Paris and London scenes of protest have, in fact, been shown extensively on CCTV. It is these incorrect "facts" that anger Chinese who see themselves under siege from the Western media.

The morning after the London torch relay, BBC World showed a story by its Beijing-based reporter, James Reynolds, shot outside a city intersection with a big video screen overhead. He said the violent scenes of the relay were not being shown on Chinese TV - only that the relay was going well. This item was screened at 8am Beijing time the morning after the London relay. I flicked across to CCTV9, and it was actually showing a report of the violence. Four hours later, Reynolds appeared again this time saying the images (on state media) were being downplayed.

In his later report, the BBC's Reynolds was superimposed against a Beijing streetscape blanketed by one of the worst foggy days so far this year. The sight may have brought joy to those critical of Beijing's weather in the lead-up to the Olympics but, on the same day, China Daily carried a report itemising the rapidly increasing number of "blue sky days".

Both CNN and BBC World are available legally only in certain hotels and through a growing number of illegal satellite receivers in residential apartments. My apartment is in a hotel compound but the (legally received) BBC signal has often gone blank during negative reports about China. Surprisingly, since the growing controversy after the Lhasa riots and the protests over the Olympic torch, the feed is generally uninterrupted. The BBC 's home page has usually been accessible on the internet, but its news site was always blocked. In the lead-up to the Olympics, the site is now available without any delay.

Will these changes remain after the Olympics? This is China. Anything is possible.

Former ABC weatherman Edwin Maher is news anchor and voice coach at CCTV International in Beijing. His book, My China Daily, is available in Australia through China Books.

© 2008 The Sunday Age

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