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For a long time, the Chinese press has been the lonely ball that every one loves to kick. This year, before the Olympics began, the international community led by America urged Beijing to let reporters write what they see and not what they are told.
Vilified and mocked, China’s restrictions on the press prompted many human rights organizations to question the International Olympic Committee’s decision to grant the country the right to host the games. Suddenly everyone was worried whether the real medal count or one that is fabricated would be announced and whether reporters would be given actual scores or made-up ones.
For years, the Chinese media exercised what is diplomatically termed as self-restraint. Interestingly, international outrage, which peaked during the Olympics, has decreased, as nobody seems to be scrutinizing press freedoms now with the same intensity as before. What has happened to the grandmothers sent to reeducation camps? Is anyone checking that?
America, as mentioned earlier, led the charge against the restrictions on the press in China. But the way in which it handled its own press during the Republican National Convention, where journalists and citizens exercising their constitutional rights were beaten up and arrested by the St. Paul police, prompts an honest question - is America serious about press freedoms? Or is the issue merely a tool to broaden its reach into countries, like China, who are emerging as new world powers?
Compared to China, undoubtedly there is more press freedom in America. One can criticize the government openly, ask questions about elected officials and request documents to be released under the Freedom of Information Act. Although these rights are guaranteed by the constitution, lately there has been a systematic attempt to undermine those fundamental rights. At St. Paul, journalist Amy Goodman, an Associated Press photographer, and about hundred protestors were arrested; some are now facing serious charges. Although only some protestors were engaged in anti-societal activities, the police rounded up more than just the troublemakers.
Mainstream media chose to focus on the convention’s festivities and skipped the mass arrests and intimidation of journalists. At MSNBC, Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews hammered Republican politics but devoted little time to the arrests outside the convention hall. Other networks including NBC, CBS and ABC also ignored police behavior outside the convention. Fox News, at least, covered the issue but painted protestors. including those who were protesting peacefully, as anti-American.
Now imagine if the same thing had happened during the annual meeting of the communist party in Beijing. The American press would have instantly condemned the incident and the government would have demanded immediate release of those arrested. So far, no one from either the Republican or the Democratic side has sought any kind of investigation into the St. Paul incident.
The fiasco in St. Paul is not the only time when America’s free press has come under attack. Anti-war protestors, writers and activists who have called upon the government to limit their engagements to police the world are routinely harassed. Therefore, it is no surprise that the United States has steadily slid down on the Press Freedom Index to 53rd place in 2006 from 17th place in 2002.
America’s mission to promote press freedoms around the world is essentially a noble intention, but a failing leader offers no inspiration. Moving ahead, before news agencies in the United States write editorials criticizing Beijing, they should first take to task their own government and leaders, and demand answers to the steadily decreasing freedom of the press in the United States. The American press and its leaders should stop chiding China and look at their own national affairs first.
A free press is the guiding light for democracy. As China grows and develops, its people will demand unrestricted access to information. However, that is a decision that people in China have to make. I am not advocating that the world sit silently and allow atrocities in China or elsewhere to go unnoticed, but rather that we look into our own backyard first and treat our own people better, the way we would like those in China and elsewhere to be treated. Preaching to others is not the way to achieve that.
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Bhumika Ghimire is a freelance reporter. Her articles have been published at OhMyNews, NepalNews, Toward Freedom, Telegraph Nepal, Himal South Asian and ACM Ubiquity. She is also a regular contributor for News Front Weekly (Nepal) and Nepal Abroad (Washington D.C.). She can be reached at bhumika_g@yahoo.com.
