Cultural Studies News Project

Xinnan Zhao (Blog Community 6)
Agwa Ojulu (Blog Community 8)

Cultural Studies News Project

We live in an incredibly massive world that is incredibly diverse. The happenings of this world and those who inhabit it are also diverse. It makes sense then, that news media can only cover so much of what goes on considering how big of a task it would be to cover it all. As a receiver of the news, it is easy to forget that this is the case. We’re busy people in our everyday lives, caught up in our own minds. What is given to us on the news is what we see as truth, with no regard for possible rifts. It is easy to forget that there is other news out there other than what is shown in whichever hour-news show we decide to watch, whichever newspaper we decide to read, or whichever blog we decide to follow. But who decides what see, when we see it and how much of it is shown? The news we are given is chosen with a hidden agenda. What we are “made” to view is picked by masterminds with a purpose as to why this is. This is the argument that Chomsky and Herman discuss in their work, and after having done this “experiment” it is interesting to realize their analysis does hold some ground.

We chose to follow the story of the famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and his ongoing problems with the government of China. Ai is a contemporary artist who is an active social, political and cultural critic of the Chinese government. Because he is a highly and openly critical person of the government’s position on things such as democracy and human rights, Ai was arrested on April 3, 2011 by the Chinese government and was held for two months without files being charged against him. In this time it sparked up much talk about the situation as more people became aware of what had happened.

I chose to follow the story on two different news sources. My first was BBC world news. I chose to follow it online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/ai_weiwei?video=on&audio=on&text=on

BBC analysis:
-There were very few images of Ai on the articles that were given, however those that were shown were either close ups of his face which I assumed to be a way to generate sympathy from the audience.
-BBC’s style in writing about Ai Weiwei seems to be driven to make the reader more sympathetic toward Ai and his situation.
- The articles I read had a tone that I thought would be similar to those “last” minute news stories shown on t.v. There was a spewing of the facts on the situation-what happened, what was said, and who said what-that type of thing. They were short and brief, straight to the point.
-There was a leaning of one direction that I noticed prevailing through the articles. A general tone of “we’re on Ai’s side” was what I took to be prevalent
- I noticed also that this particular story was under the entertainment heading under the list of headings that BBC offers

For my second source I chose the outlet Associated Press global news network, also online.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_AI_WEIWEI?SITE=TNJAC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

AP Analysis:
-The style of the website caught my eye right away. On the websites “about us” section they claim to be fair in their news giving and bias free. I thought this was a curious claim to make because I strongly believe that every person has their bias in any situation.
-I noticed that they seem to appear prestigious in their giving of news. Their teams stay very up to date on what goes on in the news from all over, and they are very prideful of that.
-When I typed in Ai Weiwei into the search, only 2 articles appeared which I took to be interestingly low considering other sites like BBC had many more results.
-The most recent was written on Nov. 1st regarding the tax bill Ai was sent by the government.
-The tone of this article as I was reading it, was very objective but I felt it still had a hint of the same tone that was in the BBC articles. I could still sense a bit of “we’re on Ai’s side” when reading it. I especially felt that way because I noticed the article ended with this quotation from Ai-
“If you want to hurt one person, to hurt me, that’s all right...but when you hurt the law, it hurts the country and everybody in it,” (Wong).
This quotation is solemn and paints Ai in a way that would make the reader think- “He only wants what’s best for the people of his country. He’s done nothing wrong!” The fact they ended the article with this particular quote leads me to think that their is an overlying agenda of the author. She seems to be driving us to think that Ai has done nothing wrong and is being attacked with no solid reason.
Comparison-
AP and BBC
After taking a look at both of these sites and comparing this story I’ve realized a few things. The AP news site is a global news network and I feel as though big stories like genocides, terrorism, and the like are highly covered with much vigor, more-so than the story of a man who is struggling to utilize his rights in a repressive system like China. It proves true what Chomsky and Herman was saying in this case-that the bigger stories will always win out in this system of news coverage and any person with ties to that story will push to have it be aired. Huge stories like acts of terrorism on a given nation touch many people at once, where as only certain groups may be impacted by a story like Ai Weiwei’s. Maybe a group that is concerned with the instillation of democratic rights in China would follow this story well and maybe push for it to be made more well known. But the fact of the matter is that these groups of people are few in number and cannot make as big of an impact. It all gets broken down in the systemic highly political dichotomization that was spoken of in the article. BBC is a network that I would expect to pay closer attention to things like this. It’s the British system of news coverage and because Britain has a democratic system I would assume that the disregarding of a man’s rights in a communistic system like China’s would be big-ish news that they would disagree about. That’s how the article reads I felt; with an overall tone of one sided-ness leaning towards Ai’s side.

Xinnan Zhao
The news outlets I used are "New York Times" an American news outlet, and "China Global Times", a Chinese news outlet. Both of these outlet I followed is online. In case you don't know about "China Global Times" (which I believe you don't). This news outlet is the official news outlet of Chinese government, and is all Chinese. However, I will translate the news for you, and give you the link of original news.

News
In April 3rd 2011, after Ai Weiwei has been taken by Chinese police at Beijing airport. Soon, a news Journal was post on "New York Times" by Andrew Jacobs, named "China Takes Dissident Artist Into Custody". In this Journal, Andrew has interviewed the assistance of Mr. Ai, she is the one who watched Mr. Ai has been taken by the Chinese police officer. In the interview, she points out that Ai Weiwei was going to Hong Kong for some "other business", Mr. Ai was plan to stay in Hong Kong for one day and then go to TaiBei for a meeting of a possible exhibition. Andrew also reported that after Ai Weiwei was captured, more than a dozen arrived Ai Weiwei's studio, and questioned the employees in the studios. He emphasized that these behavior that Chinese police did to Mr. Ai is the violation of human right. ("China Takes Dissident Artist Into Custody" Jacobs, Andrew. New York Times. April 3rd 2011 URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/asia/04china.html?ref=aiweiwei).

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/asia/04china.html?_r=3&ref=aiweiwei

In April 7th 2011, after Chinese police department announced the custody of Ai Weiwei is because of "Economic crime" . A Journal on "New York Times" called "Chinese Defend Detention of Artist on Grounds of ‘Economic Crimes’" by Edward Wong, points out that the term "Economic Crime" is frequently used as a legal cover by police officers who wish to detain or imprison someone whom Communist Party officials consider a political threat. He claim that Chinese government detain Ai Weiwei is because he was advocating democratic rights, which post a threat to the Communist Party. He also gave some other examples of Chinese people been held to custody because of they were threat to the Communist Party. ("Chinese Defend Detention of Artist on Grounds of ‘Economic Crimes’" Wong, Edward. New York Times. April 7th 2011 URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/world/asia/08china.html?_r=1&ref=aiweiwei).

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/world/asia/08china.html?_r=1&ref=aiweiwei



From " China Global Times ", the earliest report on Ai Weiwei is on April 8th, five day after Ai Weiwei was seized. In the article: " Who is violating the law". It mentioned that on April 7th, Chinese police department, given the announcement that Ai Weiwei was been held in custody in order to investigate "Economic crime". However, In this news journal, it didn't really talked a lot about Ai Weiwei, most of the article was condemning western media outlet. The author emphasized that some western media outlet was criticizing Chinese government because of the incident of Ai Weiwei, which they have no right to do so. Because Chinese government took Ai Weiwei into custody was obeying the law of China. This action is not a violation of human right, which some western media outlet claimed. Chinese government claim that they took Ai Weiwei into custody is because the "Economic crime" he might committed, not because of he was advocating democratic rights. Also, the author points out that if some western country such is United State, Germany, etc think that Chinese government has no right to detain Ai Weiwei, than means that these countries were not respecting China's law. ("Who is violating the law" China Global Times. April 8th 2011 URL: http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/04-08/2960427.shtml).

http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/04-08/2960427.shtml

Analysis:
-New York Times: The news from New York times are timely, and accurate. In these Journals, the information are come from creditable people and sources, and they reported the story from all-sided. The language they use is easy to understand and easy to read. The idea is easy to follow. and clear. Both of these journals has pictures of Ai Weiwei, and both of them are targeting the idea that Chinese government violated "human rights", and they took Ai Weiwei is because he was advocating democratic rights. It's clearly these western news outlet is on Ai Weiwei's side, because put Ai Weiwei in to custody is similar to put Martin Luther King into custody.

- China Global Times: The news from China Global Times has no author, however, because is the official news outlet for Chinese government, so the "author" actually is the Chinese government. Compare to those journal from New York times, this one lack of credibility. Because they claim that Ai Weiwei has "Economic crime" but didn't give any prove of it. Only one sentence for Ai Weiwei's situation, most of the report is just blame western news outlet for criticizing Chinese government, and ask the western countries to leave it alone. The news was also not timely, because there were no report of anything of Ai Weiwei since he was captured until the five day after. Most importantly, the news doesn't think Ai Weiwei is really a big deal. They think that he is just a other guy with a other crime.

In these journals, New York Times' position is clearly taken from the western countries, which value human right and human freedom in a great deal. That's why they think is very wrong to put Ai Weiwei into custody just because he advocating freedom and rights. Because the History and the political position of western countries are all about human rights and freedom. Is all about democracy, so that they will think Ai Weiwei incident is a big deal.
China Global Times is the representation of Chinese government. In the history of China, the government is more likely to worries about political threat and reactionism. The Chinese government values human right different from western counties. Because in western countries, everybody have rights, even if you are a criminal. But according to the constitution of people’s republic of China, rights is not for the enemies of the society. Since Ai Weiwei was been seen as a enemy of the Chinese society, so taken him is perfectly normal.

From my prespective, I don’t really think the incident of Ai Weiwei is a big deal, because I understand how Chinese politics works. If you were identified as an enemy of the Chinese society, then you are pretty much done in China. There will be no rights to you until you could prove you are not the enemy of the Chinese society. All I can say is welcome to China.


Conclusion- Herman and Chomsky’s hypothesis

Herman and Chomsky argue that messages from weak groups will be at a disadvantage in the realm of media coverage. In the world of media there are gatekeepers-those big time guys that have a stake in keeping the media train chugging in a certain direction-their direction. How much is shown on a given topic is the product of those who have a hidden agenda with views they would like to convey to the public for a greater purpose. In regards to the Ai Weiwei story- I think the lack of a greater amount of coverage on the subject can be attributed to this fact. Not enough people are within the group that would find this of great importance, and sadly these groups do not hold enough ground in the media realm to push for greater coverage.