CANTERBURY TV BROADCASTS CHINESE PROPAGANDA - AND BREACHES BROADCASTING STANDARDS

While the Chinese regime have been trying to prevent information getting out about what is happening Tibet, some media organisations in New Zealand appear to have no problems in allowing the Chinese regime to push its propaganda via their media channels.

Take the small local Christchurch channel Canterbury Television (CTV) for instance. It regularly broadcast programmes from CCTV International, which is the 24 hour news channel of Chinese Central Television.

CCTV is merely a mouthpiece for the Chinese regime - nothing broadcast contradicts the 'party line'.

In recent times, CCTV has been describing the Tibetan independence activists as a 'mob' and 'criminals'. On one programme, China Daily, CCTV even suggested that the protestors had been killing fellow Tibetans - although no evidence was presented to back up this claim.

CCTV has also been peddling the line that the Tibetan uprising is the work of the Dalai Lama and his followers - what the 'news' channel refers to as 'the Dalai clique'.

No attempt has been made to address the legitimate political concerns of the Tibetan people.

But Canterbury TV appears to have no problem in broadcasting this propaganda.

These programmes clearly breach the standards set down by the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority and are which set down in the Free-To-Air television code.

Under Standard 4: Balance, it states:

4a Programmes which deal with political matters, current affairs, and questions of a controversial nature, must show balance and impartiality.

I have written to the CTV Programming Manager, Ross Burdett, outlining my concerns and asking why CTV is broadcasting these programmes which are clearly nothing more than Chinese state propaganda. So far, I have received no response.

In the meantime I have lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

Canterbury TV is owned by the Allied Press (which publishes the Otago Daily Times) and two local Christchurch businessmen, Murray Wood (Magnum Mac computers) and Christopher Smith (South Island Gourmet).