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Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 86 Being the BBC Chinese Service Because we broadcast and publish in Chinese, sometimes we are treated more harshly by the authorities; but other times, we have better opportunities than our English-language colleagues. The BBC has a bureau in Beijing, with two British reporters and some Chinese researchers, but our numerous requests to have a Chinese producer in China have all been rejected. In 2006, a BBC team went to Guangdong to do some live programs, and in the team there were two Chinese producers and some producers and reporters from other language services. Our two producers were closely watched, their blog was read every day and commented on by the government minders, and when they interviewed local people, they were closely watched. More than 10 officials were present when our producer went into a peasant’s home, making it very difficult to conduct a frank interview. But sometimes being able to communicate directly in Chinese gives us unique opportunities that our English-speaking colleagues can’t enjoy. Over the years, we have worked with Chinese broadcasters to organize debates on social issues - either broadcast or web cast - which are broadcast by us and our local partners. We have covered AIDS, smoking and health, the environment, traffic problems and even press freedom. The fact that these debates can take place at all shows progress in China, but considerable differences still exist about the way we approach these issues and the manner of the debate, and we have to be very resilient and flexible to pull it off. A very interesting example was a debate on Beijing’s preparedness for the Olympic Games that took place last August. The issues included what the Games would bring to China, to Beijing and to ordinary Chinese people, and how would the successes be judged. Our partner this time was Beijing Sport Radio, part of Beijing Radio. They wanted to use a well-known international brand as a platform to give good publicity to the Games, and we wanted to hear some frank views. The plan was to present the debate jointly and broadcast it live, and we invited some high-profile guests to appear as panelists. When our production team arrived, however, Beijing Radio was deeply embroiled in a scandal over adulterated dumplings, which brought down the radio's director, and the atmosphere was noticeably tense. The station wanted to exercise strict control over the debate, and the plan to broadcast it live was scrapped; a high-ranking official who had been invited changed his mind about appearing, so we had to frantically search for a substitute. Before the debate, when our presenter and their presenter sat down to go over the questions, we were told that the debate should not touch on certain areas, such as the budget, medal hopes for China, or if people outside Beijing would benefit from the Games. In the end, those questions were asked anyway by our presenter in a very skilled way, and the guests did give their views. The show was web cast live, and the professionalism and skills of our production team won high praise from the Chinese side.
Beijing Olympics 2008: Winning Press Freedom 87 Over the years, we have had many experiences like this. It highlights the different perceptions of media’s role in China and in the West, but it also gives us hope that cooperation of this kind will gradually narrow the gap. Olympic year and press freedom Since the new media measures took effect at the beginning of 2007, several BBC reporters in China have tried to cover social issues but met with local interference; the Foreign Correspondents Club of China received 180 reports of interference in 2007 alone. In March this year, as soon as troubles started in Tibet, all foreign journalists were expelled from there, making it very difficult to report what was going on since we had to rely on second-hand and third-hand material. There were cases of wrong picture captions and wrong footage used in some TV reporting. This caused angry reaction from the official Chinese media and triggered anti-Western frenzy, not seen perhaps since the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. Afterwards, there was what happened with the demonstrations surrounding the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco. The BBC, Cable News Network and French media were severely attacked for being biased and anti-Chinese, not helped by some onair derogatory comments made by some TV presenters. Anti-CNN and anti-BBC video clips are doing the rounds on the Internet. BBC and CNN journalists in Beijing have received threatening messages. The Chinese service has been inundated with angry messages accusing us of being untruthful and biased. The tone is aggressive and sometimes extremely hostile. As editor in the Chinese Service, I feel more than ever before the need to report events fairly, objectively and with balance, which in our case means covering both sides of the argument on the Tibetan issue and Olympic torch relay. I notice that some pro-China demonstrations in the world have not been reported in the mainstream media, which simply feeds into the belief that there is an anti-China agenda in the West. While the international community continues to press China to keep its promise and make it easier for foreign journalists to work there and improve press freedom in general, we as journalists also have a responsibility to remain balanced, objective and fair in our reporting of China. Any mistakes we make, or ignorance or prejudice we display will be seized upon by the authorities and further hinder our communication with the Chinese people, which is the last thing we want to do, because we have no quarrel with them.
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