Censorship in Canada’s Chinese-Language Media
Cindy Gu
Publisher, Epoch Times
Good
afternoon.
My
name is Cindy Gu, and I am
the publisher of the Canadian editions of The Epoch Times, a general interest
newspaper that is published in more than ten languages, in thirty countries.
Our Chinese-language edition is one of the largest and most widely distributed
Chinese-language newspapers in Canada
and the world.
As
I’ll describe today, and as we’ve shown in our series on Chinese-language media
censorship in Canada, it is
rare for any Chinese-language media in this country to report candidly about
human rights abuses in China,
or, for that matter, to stray from the Chinese Communist Party line on almost
any significant issue.
The
Epoch Times is an exception to this widespread practice of censorship. We were
the first newspaper to report on the outbreak and cover-up of SARS, for example,
at a time when other Chinese-language media in Canada
were largely echoing Chinese government denials and uncritically publishing
assurances from the Chinese authorities that it was safe to travel to China.
Our
newspaper was born out of the need for an independent voice on China. Since it
was founded in 2000, The Epoch Times has become the leading source for
independent, uncensored information on China. A recent study of the
leading software used to break through firewalls in countries that censor the
internet found that more people use such programs to visit our website than to
visit any other website in the world aside from Google.
Each
month our website receives millions of hits from web users inside China. And we experience
first-hand the regime’s efforts to repress sensitive news. For example, in 2004
we published a book-length series of editorials called the Nine Commentaries on
the Communist Party. It is perhaps the first-ever complete analysis of the
history and nature of the Communist Party, detailing the atrocities it has
inflicted on the Chinese people, from political campaigns such as the Great
Leap Forward to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 to the persecution of Falun Gong today.
A
study carried out by the universities of Oxford,
Harvard, and Toronto
found that no term was more heavily censored on the Chinese internet than the
title of this editorial series: “The Nine Commentaries.” Still, millions of
people from inside China have accessed our website and after reading this
series, and have renounced their ties to the Communist Party, Communist Youth
League, and Communist Young Pioneers. So when I speak about censorship, I speak
from experience.
Today,
I will talk about three things:
1.
First, I will describe the kind of
censorship we have observed in Chinese-language media in Canada –
namely, self-censorship.
2.
Second, I will talk about how this
situation came about.
3.
Third, I will talk about some possible
consequences of this censorship in terms of Canadian sovereignty.
1.
Examples of Self-Censorship
On
March 29, I was in Toronto’s Dundas Square
to witness a rally in support of the Chinese regime’s crackdown in Tibet. Close to
1000 red flag-waving Chinese gathered there. Some shouted at the small group of
Tibetans who had gathered nearby in protest with slogans such as “Dalai Lama
die!”, “Dalai Lama lies!”, and “Liar, liar!”
Participants
argued that the Dalai Lama was responsible for the turmoil in Tibet, and they
denounced Western media coverage as lies. An event with similar overtones was
held April 13 on Parliament Hill.
Chris,
an organizer of the Dundas Square event told The
Epoch Times in an interview: "The violence [is] created by the Tibetan
people . . . they are against all the other ethnic people; they just want to
drive everyone out . . . The Chinese government didn't do anything wrong."
Chris added that he relies on Chinese-language media such as Sing Tao Daily, a
newspaper, to inform him about Tibet.
The
Epoch Times reviewed dozens of articles from Chinese newspapers in Canada and
found a consistent pattern of reporting that parroted the Chinese communist
party's line on events unfolding in Tibet. The papers relied heavily on Chinese
government sources and used inflammatory quotes throughout their reports that
matched those used by the regime.
One
story that ran in the Sing Tao was particularly telling. In Canada, Sing
Tao is majority owned by Torstar, which also publishes the Toronto Star.
However, the newspaper maintains an editorial relationship with the parent Sing
Tao company in Hong Kong.
On
April 13, both the Toronto Star and Sing Tao ran what was purportedly the same
article about Tibet
on Page One. It was written by a Star immigration reporter, but the Sing Tao
version had some notable edits.
The
Star story had the headline "Chinese Canadians Conflicted on Tibet,"
and it discussed some Chinese-Canadians’ hopes for human rights as well as some
who have nationalistic sentiments towards the Olympics and perceived Tibetan
interference in the Games. It also quoted observers, such as myself, who said
the Chinese regime was intentionally confusing national pride with support for
the Communist party’s policies in Tibet.
The
Sing Tao version stripped criticism of the Chinese regime and comments on human
rights. It opened with two paragraphs berating Western news coverage and
critics of the crackdown in Tibet.
It ran under the headline, "The West Attacks China With
Tibet Issue, Inciting Chinese Patriotism Overseas."
While
the media’s treatment of Tibet
in Canada
provides a recent and familiar example, the same pattern can be found with each
issue sensitive to the Chinese authorities, and the results can sometimes be
extreme.
For
example, just as the Chinese authorities began to face criticism over the
shoddy construction of schools that collapsed in the Sichuan
earthquake, killing thousands of children, Chinese state-run media cooked up a
story that Falun Gong practitioners in Flushing, New
York City were disrupting efforts to collect
earthquake donations.
In
fact, the Falun Gong adherents had been manning a
booth in Flushing’s Chinatown
that drew attention to the persecution the Communist regime inflicted on Falun Gong, and there’s no evidence they had disrupted any
donation efforts. Yet at least a dozen Chinese-language media have echoed the
party line, inciting resentment toward Falun Gong in New York City.
For
more than three weeks, a mob of angry Chinese sometimes
numbering in the hundreds have surrounded the Falun
Gong believers in Flushing, cursing and
sometimes beating them. Flushing police have confirmed arrests of six members
of the mob, and last week two U.S.
lawmakers called on the government to deport the Chinese consul general in New York, who was caught
on audiotape boasting about his role in rallying the mob.
2.
What’s Behind the Self-Censorship?
How
did the Chinese regime come to have such apparent influence over Chinese-language
media in North America? Prior to 1989, most
Chinese-language media operations in Canada
originated in Hong Kong or Taiwan
and had little influence from the state media censors in China. However,
the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989 drew condemnation from the Chinese diaspora overseas, many of whom still had strong
connections inside Mainland China.
CSIS warned that this led the regime to double efforts to control its message
abroad, including Canada,
the Globe and Mail reported in 2000.
The
strategy that followed was described in a 2001 briefing by the Jamestown
Foundation, a Washington-based think-tank that monitors threats to democracy
and freedom. According to Jamestown, the Chinese
regime adopted four tactics to control Chinese-language media in America:
1.
Complete ownership of media or purchase
of majority shares.
2.
Use of economic ties to influence media
that had business ties in China.
3.
Purchase of advertising in media, which
was tied to coverage.
4.
Deployment of government personnel to
work in independent media, achieving influence from within the ranks.
According
to Jamestown, three of the four major Chinese
newspapers published in the U.S.
– Sing Tao Daily, Ming Pao Daily News, and The
China Press – were under the direct influence of the Chinese Communist
government. The fourth, World Journal, had increasingly adopted a
pro-Beijing attitude. Three of those newspapers, Sing Tao, Ming Pao, and World Journal, also have editions in Canada.
A
former high-ranked official at the Chinese consulate in Sydney told of similar tactics. In an
interview, Chen Yonglin told The Epoch Times that
Chinese officials would persuade businesses to advertise in media with
acceptable coverage. Consular staff warned media when they crossed the lines,
and they’d arrange to have overseas media carry content produced by media in
Mainland China,
where it would have already passed through the censors. The content was
provided for free, and in some cases the Mainland media would even pay to have
it republished abroad. He provided consulate memos to support some of his
claims. This tactic is called “borrowing a boat to go overseas”.
Such
arrangements may already be in place in Canada. Ming Pao
Daily’s Canadian edition includes a regular page from the Guangzhou Daily
in China.
In an interview with The Epoch Times, Ming Pao’s CEO
admitted that the newspaper does not pay for that content. The two main Toronto
TV stations – Fairchild and Omni – each use free feeds from state-run China
Central Television (CCTV).
Concerns
were also raised after Canadian cable provider Rogers added nine state-run
Chinese television channels to its cable line-up. The CRTC ruled one of the
networks, CCTV-4, had aired content that could incite hatred or even violence
against Falun Gong. Tibetans have also complained to
the CRTC that recent CCTV-4 broadcasts vilifying the Dalai Lama and his
followers has incited hate against them.
Rogers has argued that they do not judge content and they
provide maximum choice for their customers. However, though Rogers added the state-run networks as soon
as they were available, it has not added New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV),
which frequently reports critically of the Chinese regime,
more than two years after CRTC granted NTDTV its license. The Epoch Times
obtained a document from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa dated March 2005 that details plans by
the embassy to interfere with NTDTV’s bid to get on
the air, including using front groups to complain to the CRTC and contacting
Rogers directly. However, Rogers
denies being pressured by the Chinese embassy.
In
fact, the media that report candidly about human rights have also faced
intimidation here in Canada.
For example, after The Epoch Times broke the story about the reports of organ
harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China, which was subsequently investigated by
David Kilgour and David Matas,
seven of our offices were broken into in short order worldwide, including an
attempted break-in at our office here in Ottawa.
Both
The Epoch Times and NTDTV have faced break-ins or vandalism to their offices,
threats to advertisers, and other intimidation, such as theft of newspapers. I
have personally received rounds of pre-recorded harassing phone calls in
Chinese ten times dating back to April 2006. The calls come from China and come
as early as 5 a.m.
3.
What Does This
Mean for Canada?
According
to the latest Census data, the Chinese-Canadian community has grown by 41 per
cent in the last ten years to over 1.2 million, making it the largest visible
minority group in the country. Surveys show that of this Chinese-Canadian
population, as many as 74 per cent of new immigrants consume Chinese-language
media, even though many of them are able to understand English. Thus, these
Chinese-language media play a central role in helping new immigrants understand
this society and even form their worldview.
Chinese-Canadians
will rely on these media to form their understandings of democracy, the rule of
law, human rights, other Western concepts, and even specific events. The
content and nature of Chinese-language media in Canada thus deserves greater
scrutiny.
Conclusion
As I have outlined above,
there exists evidence that the Chinese regime is exerting influence on
Chinese-language media in Canada
through incentive, intimidation, and even harassment. The aim appears to be to
instill and preserve loyalty to the Communist regime among the Chinese diaspora in Canada.
However,
the prospect of a foreign regime extending considerable, undue influence on
such a large minority group also has implications for Canada at
large. That is why efforts to interfere with the independence of our
Chinese-language media must be addressed in all seriousness.