Op-Ed Contributors

Not yet voice of the people

By Li Tao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-15 07:41

Qian was the managing editor of Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend for several years. Reflecting on his experience with the influential newspaper, which built its reputation on investigative reports that routinely exposed social and political issues, he says political support was still key to the success of the paper.

In many countries, governments have newspapers and broadcasters serving their political ends. The Voice of America, which speaks for the US government, is one such example. This may not be such a good thing, he says. But then a totally market-oriented media environment could make newspapers and broadcasters go to the other extreme.

He cites Taiwan's example, where the media are engaged in such a fierce competition to get advertisements that some of them have stooped down to publishing and airing trivial and sleazy stories to attract readers and viewers. The logic is simple: the more readers or viewers a media outlet has, the more ads it will get.

He says that even if public media get all or a substantial part of their funds from the government or official sources - tax revenue or from license fees - their non- profit motive will allow them to report objectively and fairly. This in itself will be a departure from the culture of publishing giants and broadcasting oligarchs.

In Germany, broadcasting councils comprising representatives from major organized social groups monitor the country's public broadcasting network, ADR. These groups include labor and industrial bodies, and other organizations representing the general interests of the public.

Citing another example, he says Hong Kong's sole public service media, Radio Television Hong Kong, is free to criticize the government even if it gets its funds from the government.

"Media reform in China still has a long way to go Public service media may have been a success in many countries. But where can we find a credible group that represents the interests of the public if we want to replicate its experience in China?"

Such is the power of advertising revenue that the media tend to turn a blind eye to the deeds of some powerful companies because they pay huge amounts in ad bills to newspapers and TV channels. It's either money or politics that seems to be dictating terms to the media worldwide. No wonder, the future of public media appears to be pretty cloudy to Qian.

(China Daily 07/15/2010 page9)