ish’s blog
A blog. By ish.Archive for China
Tibetans sentenced to death following Lhasa protests of March 2008
China continues to demonstrate its flagrant disregard for the rule of law and fundamental human rights including the right to legal representation, sentencing two Tibetans to death, with a further two getting death sentences with two year suspensions and one more getting life imprisonment (which is pretty much the same thing in China’s notorious prisons with their track records for torture and abuse).
More details here including what you can do to show your outrage and try to stop these executions from being carried out.
Yet another example of the kind of dispicable and disgraceful behaviour that demonstrates why China should be excluded from international forums until it learns to behave like a civilised nation.
The new ad…
Channel 7 has refused to air our new ad, which we had planned on launching during the closing ceremony.
Basically, they suck. Enough said – here’s the ad.
The ad will be shown simultaneously on all of the pro-free speech TV stations in this great land of ours (well at least those stations with ads – i.e. Nine, Ten and SBS).
Thankfully the only good shows that 7 have (and that’s not a lot) are also available via download elsewhere… I’ve survived without watching any Channel 7 since the 8th of the 8th, and now that I know they are basically a puppet of the Chinese propaganda bureau I’ll be steering clear for good.
If you too want to ditch 7 but are worried about missing out on Lost or whatever other crap you are addicted to, check out the Australian iTunes Store that now offers TV shows and movies.
Channel 7 second chance via GetUp! ‘repechage’
GetUp! are going to give Channel 7 a second chance in the media freedom olympics when they attempt to air another pro-human rights advertisement for the closing ceremony.
In one sense it is quite ironic that they pulled our original ad. It must be about the only ad they haven’t shown during the coverage (which from all accounts had been riddled with a seemingly endless barrage of commercials).
If you missed the ad, here it is again for your viewing pleasure…
The Seven ad fiasco highlighted on Media Watch
After the Channel 7 decision to censor the ATC TV ad, I had contemplated notifying ABC’s broadcasting watchdog – Media Watch. Of course, they were already on the ball and tonight ran a comprehensive story on the issue.
I love Media Watch. Nice work Mr Holmes.
By the way, you can view the ad via the ATC website here.
At least Australia has media freedom, right?
Despite (or in line with) the public dispute between GetUp and Channel 7 this week, the network failed to air our ad. The paid advertisement urging PM Rudd to speak up for Tibet whilst in China for the Olympics was produced by GetUp and the Australia Tibet Council (of which I am a director), had free-to-air approval and was appropriately booked. Yet, unbelievably, Channel 7 refused to run the ad, citing a bunch of crap excuses.
Regardless of whether Seven took this decision under its own direction or were pressured into this by someone else (such as the IOC, as has been postulated elsewhere), this raises huge questions about media freedom – not just in China, but right here in Australia.
Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders (amongst many other organisations including ATC) have been trying to highlight the lack of media freedom within China during the lead-up to the Olympics. Of course, incidents like this one with Channel 7 in Australia are even more disturbing as they highlight the reach of China’s media censorship beyond its own national borders.
I spoke at a public rally last weekend relating to the actions by European Satellite TV company, Eutelsat, in pulling the broadcast into China by the New York based, independent Chinese-language news network NTDTV. Reporters Without Borders have further details on their site regarding Eutelsat’s disgraceful actions, including a lenghty transcript of a discussion between a Eutelsat employee and someone posing as a Chinese Propoganda Department representative. Of course, this would be bad enough if it was a Chinese-based company, but Eutelsat is headquarted in France.
This is a worrying trend, but not a new one. You can find out more by running the incredibly ironic Google search – ‘Google, China and internet censorship’.
Just not in China.
And maybe not for too much longer here either.
