China and the dark ages

Tom Plate is consistently one of the most interesting writers about Asia and, in particular, Asia's media. His columns appear in a number of the world's leading newspapers and his role as Professor at the Asia Media Centre at UCLA plays an important role in putting a solidly academic, while always accessible spin on how our region's media is developing.

I read, then, with great interest his latest column titled, Is China heading back to the dark ages?. He notes:

In recent university and media appearances, I have been struck by how worried many people are about China. Goodwill and high hopes for the world's most populous state are evident almost everywhere. But, increasingly, doubts about the wisdom of the central government's public-information policies cross the face of questioners. People wonder how China can possibly move forward if its media policies are heading backwards.

In his article he refers to a review of the latest edition of China's Media & Entertainment Law by James F. Paradise. This kicks off with the suggestion that "A few years ago, it was possible to talk about a combination of liberalization and censorship in the Chinese media industry. Now the story is more about censorship and a variety of other restrictions as the Chinese government seeks to reassert control after a period of rapid change".

It has become clear to us that this applies as much to the field of B2B media and business information as it does to other, apparently more sensitive areas of the media. Pity. It limits business opportunity both for foreign media companies but, more importantly, for Chinese media and the industries they support.

Not wishing to end on too downbeat a note, perhaps we should also quote Paradise's penultimate paragraph:

As bleak as things may seem, there are reasons for optimism. As the authors of China's Media & Entertainment Law put it, "With China now a member of the World Trade Organization and its economy becoming more integrated with the rest of the world, in addition to the numbers of global representatives flocking to the capital for the 2008 Olympic Games, it would be surprising if the existing strict censorship rules are not relaxed at or about the time of the Beijing games." Regulations have already been eased a bit for foreign reporters and the Chinese government, should it take an enlightened view, may be inclined to seriously ponder how further media repression will damage the country's reputation in the eyes of the international community.