By Tim Burt
BEIJING – China’s communist government has long maintained an iron grip on the media. For years, it has routinely blocked the websites and radio services of news organisations considered too liberal, among them the BBC.
Last week, that grip was relaxing. After a year of planning and negotiations, the BBC is launching a seven-day drive to increase its presence, audience profile and awareness in China. Raymond Li, China business development manager at the BBC World Service, says: “It’s a pan-BBC exercise, stretching from the World Service to domestic output, our international BBC World channel, webcasts and news online.”
Last Thursday Question Time, the corporation’s unscripted and often combative panel show, was broadcast, from Shanghai. David Dimbleby, its veteran presenter, claims it is the first time a “democratic programme” has been taken to a communist country. “It will be interesting to see how much the Chinese audience participates in the discussion,” he adds.
Question Time’s maiden show in China followed sensitive talks with government officials. Last December, BBC producers went to Beijing and Shanghai to seek approval for the broadcast without much hope of success. To their surprise, the foreign ministry was enthusiastic. Tapes of previous shows were reviewed. Concerns were raised about the potential panel members and tricky areas of discussion. Ric Bailey, executive editor of Question Time, says: “We were very clear that we wanted to get the views of the Chinese government as part of the mix and debate, but we said there would be no ‘no-go’ areas.”
The BBC warned that topics including Tibet and human rights were to be aired. But after weeks of back-and-forth negotiations, the proposal was officially given the green light.
The BBC is hoping to tap into a potentially huge market — one that has 400m television sets and 500m radios — by taking advantage of what Li thinks has been a shift in attitudes.
“With Chinese accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the media market has been opening up,” he says. “This is allowing foreign media companies producing content to take part in joint ventures and publishers to print books and newspapers in China”.
The BCC, which broadcasts six hours of Mandarin language services a day, has already had links with Radio Tinjin and Yunan Radio. Last week, it had more than 20 journalists preparing special bulletins and programmes in China.
The government has not stopped jamming radio news broadcasts or relaxed the BBC news online black-out. But relations are considerably warmer than the days of Tiananmen Square, when China decried foreign coverage. The BBC also enraged the government with a documentary about Mao Tse-tung’s private doctor.
Last Thursday, the change of attitudes and pace of reform featured prominently on Question Time. Uncompromising criticism was there from a panel comprising Chris Patten, former Hong Kong governor and European Union (EU) commissioner, and Jung Change, author of Wild Swans, the best-selling book charting the history of the Communist party and cultural revolution.
Liu Jianchao, a Chinese government spokesman, offered the counter view, alongside David Tang, the entrepreneur, and Long Yongtu, an ambassador to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. Their presence symbolised China’s willingness to open up the media. “It’s a breakthrough,” says Dimbleby. “To have a programme from China with known critics of the Chinese government on the panel is something I never thought would happen.”
