(Clearwisdom.net) Hu Zhanfan, who was appointed to the top post at CCTV on November 24, 2011, said in May that journalists who defined themselves as "professionals" rather than "propaganda workers" were making a "fundamental mistake about their identity". Hu's definition of journalists as “propaganda workers” gives a telling glimpse into the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) intention to manipulate journalists into brainwashing the Chinese people.
The CCP Forces Journalists to Serve as Its Mouthpiece
Ever since the CCP was established, its main method of glossing over its mistakes and deceiving the people has been to manipulate people with its propaganda. Employees of CCTV used to describe the propaganda as follows: “It is a dog raised by the Party, guarding the Party’s gate. It will bite anyone the Party wants it to bite, and bite however many times the Party wants it to.”
Hu Zhanfan's above remark clearly illustrates his loyalty to the CCP. An official selected by the CCP must do things based on his master's intentions. The most secure and effective way is to force his subordinates to behave as obediently as he does.
Sustaining Power Is the Sole Goal of the CCP's Propaganda
In the past dozens of years, the CCP has tightly controlled China's mass media. Non-governmental media have been shut down, except for those which publicize the CCP's propaganda under the control of the CCP.
Anything can become a sacrifice to the CCP's autocracy. Mao Zedong ceded Mongolia; Deng Xiaoping massacred students; Jiang Zemin handed over more than 1.5 million square km of northern China to Russia. The CCP suppressed the prediction of earthquakes, including the Tangshan and Wenchuan earthquakes. Incidents such as major traffic and mine accidents, the SARS epidemic, illegal gutter oil, high melamine-powdered milk, organ harvesting and more have been widely reported on the Internet and by overseas media, but were either suppressed or reported with minimal impact in China. Disaster reports were white-washed by the CCP in order to mislead the people.
During the persecution of Falun Gong, all levels of the CCP's propaganda machinery received orders to produce a required number of reports defaming or framing Falun Gong before the given deadlines. This created a ridiculously sharp contrast: Before the persecution was launched, almost all reports about Falun Gong were positive, but after the persecution started, all media had to publish reports that slandered Falun Gong. CCTV continued airing such reports all day long, and was also deeply involved in staging the “Self-Immolation on Tiananmen Square” to frame Falun Gong.
Being Morally Responsible to the Chinese People and Not the CCP's Mouthpiece
Despite the CCP's numerous political movements, lies, threats, and every possible means to force the Chinese people to sing the praises of the Party, not all Chinese are brainwashed. More and more are awakening.
The fact that those people like Hu Zhanfan have to repeatedly remind others about the role of journalists is an indication that those journalists haven't yet completely lost their conscience. Some take advantage of every possible means to challenge censorship. After the tragedy of the high-speed train crash in Wenzhou, the CCP pressured all levels of media, attempting to eliminate reports about the collision. Many of the media showed both their conscience and their helplessness by leaving a blank space in a publication to show that this topic had been censored. It was a silent protest against censorship.
Some media professionals have been persecuted and forced to flee overseas. Qiu Mingwei, former Deputy Chief of the "People's Forum" of the People's Daily (the main mouthpiece of the CCP), fled China on July 30, 2009 to escape persecution for participating in a pro-democracy march during a visit to Hong Kong.
The overseas Chinese have managed to establish truly independent media, such as the Minghui.org website, The Epoch Times, and NTDTV, which break through the CCP's Internet blockade and expose the evil rule of the CCP.
Be a Chinese person of great conscience and rationality, not a mouthpiece of the CCP. Break away from the CCP and safeguard the integrity of the profession. That is the only wise choice for Chinese media professionals.
