Dr. Chengju Huang
Asian Media & Culture Studies Lecturer in the School of Media & Communication at RMIT University
1. Do you think the Internet should be censored in China?
Yes I guess probably in the Chinese context, or in the developing context, that kind of control or regulation is probably particularly important. Like right now in China, Xinjiang province there was sort of a terrorist attack. Someone had a bomb blast in the capital of Xinjiang province, killed and wounded about 40 people, one of the major terrorist attacks in recent years.
So I guess for the Chinese government, they would probably use this as another reason to say we’re going to tighten and control not only socially but also in terms of media coverage. One of the major purposes of terrorist groups is that they want to use the existing communication system to spread their message as widespread as possible.
So in a way if there isn’t government regulation of media coverage, the media is kind of in a way providing free propaganda for those terrorist groups. So, if you have limited media coverage of it, it reduces the impact and activities of these terrorist groups.
But also there have been debates, particularly in the U.S because from the media industries’ perspective it’s a matter of people’s right to know and freedom of speech. So long as it is newsworthy, they are going to report it. But the counter argument is that, you are actually trying to use coverage of terrorism to generate ratings for profit that should be restricted to keep the balance right.
I guess in the western context it’s much harder for the government to tighten their control of media coverage of terrorism, but in the Chinese context it is much easier. But quite often something like this maybe misunderstood or misinterpreted by the west.
2. In your own opinion, do you think censorship in China is good or bad?
I guess for a typical western society like Australia, because it is a mature democracy it has been modernised already. It is a postindustrial society, people are well educated; people are mature enough to deal with both positive and negative news and so on. So social stability is not a big issue for a country like Australia, U.S.A or European countries, but it is a big issue for many developing countries. I’m not saying we should blame people who are not well educated.
In the case of China, I would imagine if we were to introduce a western style liberal democracy, multi-party system and free press. I don’t believe there would be media organisations and journalists that are mature or professional enough to use it properly. It’s not impossible for them to abuse that kind of newfound freedom for profit or for some organisations for their own political agenda and it is not impossible for them to cause social instability. If that is the case, for a country with 1.3 billion people, it is a big worry. Not because someone if politically conservative, it’s a real issue.
Quite often, this is viewed from a human rights’ perspective, but from a realist’ perspective, politicians or some scholars would look at the possible actual consequences or impacts on the society as a whole. Personally, I don’t mind, of course authoritarian, morally is no-good. We don’t even want to be controlled by our parents when you are growing up (laughs).
In reality, for a country like China and many other developing countries, I think the government has a point. The point, quite often is interpreted by the west or the western media as an excuse to refuse a western style democracy. I believe there is a certain truth and genuine reasons or concerns there. We should get the balance right. The balance however, may differ in western and in non-western contexts. Here, when we say get the balance right we mean ‘incline to emphasize freedom of speech more’. I guess in a developing context people may believe that the balance should shift to a sort of reasonable control. It’s hard to compare western and non-western media control.
It’s hard to say if it’s a good thing or bad thing. I guess so long as society can keep social stability, if people’s living standard is improving, if people’s individual freedom is improving and if political freedom or press freedom is not as good, so be it. My personal opinion is that I do not believe that it is a bad thing, I could be wrong anyway.
3. What do the majority of people in China feel about the censorship system?
It depends. In China there are peasants, workers, professors and the younger educated generation. My overall experience and observation, the majority of the population are happy with what they have at this stage. Of course most of them do complain, but that's basic human nature. Of course you want a better life, you want more political freedom and so on. But I guess after 30 to 35 years of reformation, everybody realises that the progress is there.
From a poor conservative and orthodox communist country, it has transformed into the second largest economy in the world. You may still call it a communist country but with growing personal and individual freedom. When I say individual freedom, for instance, freedom to move overseas,we didn't have that freedom before. The freedom to choose a job. When I graduated we didn't have the freedom to choose our jobs and now we do.
Everyone knows that they are censored, they are aware of the Great Firewall. But in everyday practice, it is probably not that scary as people might have imagined. Even within China the biggest problem is the inconvenience, because some websites are not accessible and you would be redirected to somewhere else. It get inconvenient particularly when you want to visit international websites.
1. Do you think the Internet should be censored in China?
Yes I guess probably in the Chinese context, or in the developing context, that kind of control or regulation is probably particularly important. Like right now in China, Xinjiang province there was sort of a terrorist attack. Someone had a bomb blast in the capital of Xinjiang province, killed and wounded about 40 people, one of the major terrorist attacks in recent years.
So I guess for the Chinese government, they would probably use this as another reason to say we’re going to tighten and control not only socially but also in terms of media coverage. One of the major purposes of terrorist groups is that they want to use the existing communication system to spread their message as widespread as possible.
So in a way if there isn’t government regulation of media coverage, the media is kind of in a way providing free propaganda for those terrorist groups. So, if you have limited media coverage of it, it reduces the impact and activities of these terrorist groups.
But also there have been debates, particularly in the U.S because from the media industries’ perspective it’s a matter of people’s right to know and freedom of speech. So long as it is newsworthy, they are going to report it. But the counter argument is that, you are actually trying to use coverage of terrorism to generate ratings for profit that should be restricted to keep the balance right.
I guess in the western context it’s much harder for the government to tighten their control of media coverage of terrorism, but in the Chinese context it is much easier. But quite often something like this maybe misunderstood or misinterpreted by the west.
2. In your own opinion, do you think censorship in China is good or bad?
I guess for a typical western society like Australia, because it is a mature democracy it has been modernised already. It is a postindustrial society, people are well educated; people are mature enough to deal with both positive and negative news and so on. So social stability is not a big issue for a country like Australia, U.S.A or European countries, but it is a big issue for many developing countries. I’m not saying we should blame people who are not well educated.
In the case of China, I would imagine if we were to introduce a western style liberal democracy, multi-party system and free press. I don’t believe there would be media organisations and journalists that are mature or professional enough to use it properly. It’s not impossible for them to abuse that kind of newfound freedom for profit or for some organisations for their own political agenda and it is not impossible for them to cause social instability. If that is the case, for a country with 1.3 billion people, it is a big worry. Not because someone if politically conservative, it’s a real issue.
Quite often, this is viewed from a human rights’ perspective, but from a realist’ perspective, politicians or some scholars would look at the possible actual consequences or impacts on the society as a whole. Personally, I don’t mind, of course authoritarian, morally is no-good. We don’t even want to be controlled by our parents when you are growing up (laughs).
In reality, for a country like China and many other developing countries, I think the government has a point. The point, quite often is interpreted by the west or the western media as an excuse to refuse a western style democracy. I believe there is a certain truth and genuine reasons or concerns there. We should get the balance right. The balance however, may differ in western and in non-western contexts. Here, when we say get the balance right we mean ‘incline to emphasize freedom of speech more’. I guess in a developing context people may believe that the balance should shift to a sort of reasonable control. It’s hard to compare western and non-western media control.
It’s hard to say if it’s a good thing or bad thing. I guess so long as society can keep social stability, if people’s living standard is improving, if people’s individual freedom is improving and if political freedom or press freedom is not as good, so be it. My personal opinion is that I do not believe that it is a bad thing, I could be wrong anyway.
3. What do the majority of people in China feel about the censorship system?
It depends. In China there are peasants, workers, professors and the younger educated generation. My overall experience and observation, the majority of the population are happy with what they have at this stage. Of course most of them do complain, but that's basic human nature. Of course you want a better life, you want more political freedom and so on. But I guess after 30 to 35 years of reformation, everybody realises that the progress is there.
From a poor conservative and orthodox communist country, it has transformed into the second largest economy in the world. You may still call it a communist country but with growing personal and individual freedom. When I say individual freedom, for instance, freedom to move overseas,we didn't have that freedom before. The freedom to choose a job. When I graduated we didn't have the freedom to choose our jobs and now we do.
Everyone knows that they are censored, they are aware of the Great Firewall. But in everyday practice, it is probably not that scary as people might have imagined. Even within China the biggest problem is the inconvenience, because some websites are not accessible and you would be redirected to somewhere else. It get inconvenient particularly when you want to visit international websites.