Yesterday 15/2-20 «France 24» news network, showed a video about Mr. Fangbin in Wuhan, who was interrogated by the police, after he had entered hospital areas and filmed patients and alleged body bags, and also posted his videos on Chinese social media platforms. (The videos were also posted by Jennifer Zeng @jenniferatntd at Twitter).
The videos are badly made and actually it’s just a stupid story, but France 24 has made it into a human rights issue, and also talks about all the support Mr. Fangbin has got on the internet. See his videos and France 24’s article at https://observers.france24.com/en/20200207-china-wuhan-coronavirus-Fangbin-shopkeeper-censorship-videos
One of France 24’s sources is an US-based group called «Chinese Human Rights Defender». And what sort of group is that? «Radio Free Asia» (Washington, D.C.) wrote in 2018 the following about their work: «Advocacy group China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) and a partner NGO, Equal Rights Initiative, said Friday that in the southern XUAR alone some 660,000 rural residents of Uyghur ethnicity may have been detained in the camps, while another up to 1.3 million may have been forced to attend mandatory day or evening re-education sessions in their villages or town centers.»
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/millions-08032018142025.html
From this one can see that «Radio Free Asia» surprisingly is using a tiny and almost unknown organization, called Chinese Human Rights Defenders, as a reliable source on Xinjiang.
The staff at Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) are «International Director» Renee Xia (Mandarin, English), +1 863 866 1012 (+1 is USA and 863 is Florida area code), and Frances Eve (English), +1 661 240 9177 (which is in California; Twitter: FrancesEveCHRD). At their website no street address is given, but a post-box: PO Box 1905. Washington, DC 20013 USA.
One may wonder who takes care of their postbox, since none of the two lives in Washington DC? Ajit Singh and Ben Norton at Grayzone has checked the US tax forms of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, and found rather shockingly that: «On its tax forms, CHRD lists its address as the Washington, DC office of Human Rights Watch.» https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/23/un-did-not-report-china-internment-camps-uighur-muslims/amp/
At the web-site of Chinese Human Rights Defenders they write about their mission: «CHRD operates a small emergency grants program which provides legal aid and emergency assistance to victims of human rights abuses.» https://www.nchrd.org/about-chinese-human-rights-defenders
Since such a small organization also is able to «empower grassroots activism in China», as they write, they need funding, and a list at Hidden Harmonies, https://hiddenharmonies.org/2018/09/03/the-national-endowment-for-democracy-and-china/ shows that in 2017 Chinese Human Rights Defenders probably got $672,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)! (The donations at NED’s web-site are called «Assistance for Human Rights Defenders: $272,000, «Capacity Building for Human Rights Defenders: $300,000», «Defending and Assisting Rights Defenders: $60,000», and «Humanitarian Assistance for Human Rights Defenders: $40,000»)
$672,000 was in 2017 around 4,5 million yuan – a huge sum in China, and CHRD has likely used parts of these money to fund opposition activists and anti-government projects inside China.
Sadly state-owned «France 24» television – with millions of viewers, is willing – without any reservation, to use this obvious anti-China group as a reliable source about what’s going on in Wuhan. That is journalism at a low level.
pug_ster says
I am not surprised about this. The US government didn’t send any aid or doctors to help with this crisis, but they want to send ‘assessment teams’ and ‘human rights defenders’ to China.
Mr. Allen says
I am saddened by this story, even if like pug_ster not surprised.
This makes me think, in our “democracy-loving” modern world, can there be independent journalism? Can there be a robust civil society?
In the past, journalism requires real investigative work. But now, the world is so saturated with misinformation and disinformation that makes that impossible. Many information sources you used to think reliable and cite are now but fronts for the CIA and the U.S. imperialistic government.
Same with robust civil society. The government has moved fronting and supporting so many NGOs that NGOs – at least the ones that have clout and money – many times means nothing. It’s actually just the government!
Same thing with social media. Facebook, Twitter, etc. They regulate on behalf of the government to suppress dissent. They allow government to echo and amplify government disinformation.
Same thing with financial organizations. Visa, Paypal, all the major thinks. Remember the campaign to destroy Wikileaks and Assange …
In this environment, can the individual citizen realistically be expected to think independently? Can organizations afford to act independently without putting themselves in mortal danger?
We truly live in a depressing, depressing world. People need to wake up. In the West, where I live, we need to see more brave people thinking and talking independently.
In China, the people – ultimately it’s always the people – must make sure the government lives up to its “mandate of heaven.”
ltlee1 says
Independent journalism?
There is none. We are only human to the extent that we can often reconcile each other’s view point without thinking since we are babies. When strangers talk, they inevitably will influence each other’s view point unconsciously. This is also how we identify friend and foe.
The question one should ask about journalism is
1) whether the journalist has the wisdom and/or the expertise on a certain subject? And
2) What is the results of this and that journalism?
In the U.S. Journalism is to a large extent, journalism to produce hatred. Hatred, of course, create enemies among the people. Have you ever wondered why the US is so polarized?
Try the book Matt Taibbi, himself a journalist, “HATE INC. Why Today’s Media Makes US Despise Each Other.” One can also find chapters of his book from the internet. For example, The Media’s 10 Rules of Hate.
https://washingtonspectator.org/taibbi-10rulesofhate/
Yes. People need to wake up, they should first of all, practice 古之学者为己。