Olympics
Sophie Richardson: Olympics Coverage Guide for Journalists
Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, interviewed by Hugo Restall, Editor of The Far Eastern Economic Review about the Chinese government’s attitude towards media.
Richardson recently published a new report, “China’s Forbidden Zones: Shutting the Media Out of Tibet and Other ‘Sensitive’ Stories.”
Beijing vs TV Networks: Olympic Media Showdown
Let the games begin!
With the August 8 opening of the Olympic games only weeks away, confidential meeting minutes reveal ongoing battles between TV networks and Beijing Olympic organizers.
In the meeting, which took place a week or so ago, points of contention included new limits on live coverage and allegations that shipments of TV equipment have been held up in Chinese ports
“I think what I have heard here are just a number of conditions or requirements that are just not workable,” said IOC official Gilbert Felli, according to minutes of the May 29 meeting obtained by reporter Stephen Wade of the Associated Press. “There are a number of things that are just not feasible.”
Some TV executives were upset that the government looks like it will not permit live coverage from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. This is a change from two months ago when IOC officials in Beijing said China had agreed to allow such live coverage.
“The Chinese are very concerned about something going wrong — and so they are in Olympic gridlock,” said John Barton, director of sport for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, which represents broadcasters in 57 countries. “They are suffocating the television coverage in the crazy pursuit of security. They can’t secure the event. Nothing can be totally secure, yet they are trying to do that.”
The tone of the meeting’s minutes is a stark contrast to public statements from the IOC.
CNN seeks freelance reporters on Digital China
Kevin Drew, supervising editor Asia Pacific for CNN International’s website, is looking for good freelancers out of China to report for the CNN Olympics microsite.
He is particularly keen for stories about how new technologies are being used to cover the Olympics, but is also interested in great stories on other Olympic-related topics.
Contact Kevin directly:
Kevin Drew
CNN
Supervising Editor, Asia Pacific
Tel: (852) 3128-3214
e-mail: kevin dot drew at cnn dot com
Mao meets Web 2.0: China’s User Generated Propaganda
The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs invited me to join a panel today on Business, Civil Society, and Politics During the Beijing Games.
New York was a little far for lunch, so I joined via YouTube to discuss the fascinating phenomenon of China’s User Generated Propaganda. Mao meets Web 2.0.
Below extract shows samples of HipHop Propaganda and PowerPoint Propaganda.
The Carnegie Council put the full video on YouTube as Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Thanks Devin Stewart and Jon Gage for putting together what looks to be a great event. (It has sold out!)
The other panelists:
Ian Burumaof Bard College, who will speak about the international relations case for engagement with countries such as China.
Robert Corcoran, General Electric VP of Corporate Citizenship, who will explore the role of multinational corporations in promoting human rights, using the Olympics as a case study. What has GE learned from balancing business and civil society demands?
Qi Qianjin, Counsellor at the Chinese Mission to the UN, who will relate the Chinese government’s experience with the Olympics so far.
Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch will discuss her new book, China’s Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges.
Sexy User Generated Propaganda Hero for China
Lei Feng, icon of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, please meet Second Right Brother, your Web 2.0 counterpart.
Lei Feng was a selfless and modest soldier devoted to Chairman Mao who was killed by a truck backing up. Created by Mao’s government the old fashioned way - fiat of the propaganda department - Lei Feng was intended to inspire the nation as it recovered from the failures of the Great Leap Forward.
Second Right Brother (the only name we know him by) is a member of the torch security detail who for many Chinese (women) has come to embody a new handsome hero standing up to protect China’s pride. Second right refers to his position in the security detail.
His true identity remains a mystery and Chinese Internet users, many of them women, simply refer to him as You Er GeGe or 右二哥哥, literally translated as Second Right Brother.
But Second Right Brother’s good works have not gone unnoticed by obsessive sites showing his photograph, sharing stories about him and even proposing marriage.
Once this Olympic torch relay is over, Second Right Brother may find a second career in the sphere of capitalist propaganda, aka sponsorship.
CNN, now a four-letter word in China
In continuing fallout from the travails of the Olympic torch, CNN now appears to be entering the Chinese vocabulary in a less than complimentary manner.
A university teacher here in Hong Kong reports that his Chinese students now use the expression “so CNN” to mean something that is subjective, lying and deceitful. One student admonished another “don’t be so CNN”.
(Image from the Anti-CNN website.)
UPDATE: Further evidence of the trend from a new fad in anti-CNN t-shirts reported by Danwei.
China 2.0: User Generated Propaganda (Hip hop-style)
The Olympic Torch controversy has inspired a web 2.0 take on national pride: User Generated hip hop propaganda in support of the Beijing Olympics. (There is also a subcategory of video arguments about Tibet, this one by an American anonymized by a Groucho Marx face painted over his face.)
They have been big on Chinese platforms, like Sina for some time, and are now moving onto YouTube.
Here is a Hip Hop-style propaganda and below it Powerpoint-style Propaganda.
Hat tip to Danwei.
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