According to some news, Zhang Danhong, who was the deputy editorial director of the Department of Chinese radio of the Deutsche Welle, was suspended for saying "too many good words for China". One of her "good words" for China is
The Communist Party of China has more than any political force in the world implemented Article 3 of the Declaration of Human Rights
Which is referring to the Chinese authorities pulling more than 400 million people out of poverty.
There are many people supporting Zhang. An open letter signed by 49 German scholars is a good example. At the same time, there are some people supporting the Deutsche Welle, such as another open letter by "a group of Chinese freelance writers and journalists living in different parts of the world".
Personally, I think the act of the Deutsche Welle is very silly. First of all, I believe an objective and unbiased news network has to have a variety of views according to the western philosophies.
If a media, or a nation couldn't tolerate different opinions, what will they be called?
1 comment:
I agree that different opinions should be valued but they should be restricted to editorials. What the critics claim is that a leading person with the Deutsche Welle's editorial board in China did not represent the viewpoint of the channel. I think it should be within the ability of the radio channel's management's decision to have those people that represent their viewpoint. She was not fired but only demoted. She can still voice her opinion but not decide which stories should and which should not be published.
I also agree that the news should be objective and unbiased. However, while the Communist Party has done much to improve the living conditions of many Chinese, it is still a stretch to claim that they have done more than any other political force to implement Article 3 of the Declaration of Human Rights (just consider the rate of death penalty, the abortion rate, etc.) Perhaps you could even claim that from this point of view, the US has done more than any political force after World War II.
Furthermore, she has also compared Chinese Internet blocking to the limits on child pornography and Nazi propaganda (in Germany). However, this comparison is not fair because the Chinese government operates perhaps the most sophisticated firewall of all countries (a pain in the ass when I travel to China).
Post a Comment