Tonight sees @isabelhilton give the 2019 James Cameron Memorial Lecture with a speech titled 'Journalism with Chinese characteristics: reflections on media in the new era'.
Head of Department @plashmar (also pictured) will introduce Isabel around 6.30pm. #citycameron19
Head of Department @plashmar (also pictured) will introduce Isabel around 6.30pm. #citycameron19
@isabelhilton @plashmar The annual Cameron Lecture also sees the awarding of the Eric Robbins Prize, awarded in memory of the correspondent for @Time who was expelled from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1966. #citycameron19
The award recognises outstanding journalism demonstrating original reporting, professionalism and initiative. #citycameron19
This year’s prize goes to @richardassheton (MA Newspaper Journalism, 2019) on the basis of his Final Project at @CityUniLondon. He is pictured with @isabelhilton and @plashmar here. #citycameron19
Richard uncovered a huge detention camp in Assam, NE India holding Muslims declared to be foreigners, linked to the introduction of a National Register of Citizens and the struggle of millions to prove they are Indian citizens. His exposé was published by @TheTimes #citycameron19
@thetimes .@isabelhilton will begin the 2019 Cameron Lecture shortly. Isabel, a London-based writer and broadcaster, is founder and editor of @chinadialogue, an independent, non-profit organisation based in London, Beijing and San Francisco. #citycameron19
@thetimes @isabelhilton @chinadialogue “China today is more ideological and authoritarian than it has been since the 1970s,” says @isabelhilton. “This is Xi Jinping’s formula for keeping the Communist Party in power but it gives us in Britain many things to think about at this strange political moment.” #citycameron19
@thetimes @isabelhilton @chinadialogue “How does the Party maintain censorship and control when China becomes a global power? The short answer is, it tries to globalises a version of that domestic control.” #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton says that three orgs have been key to controlling what was said/understood about the Party: the Party Propaganda Dept, the Xinhua news agency and the organisation that Chairman Mao called one of Party’s three magic bullets, the United Front Work Dept #citycameron19
@isabelhilton In 2008, the Party concluded there was a global media conspiracy against China, says @isabelhilton. “The following year, it announced it would spend $6.6bn on the Grand External Propaganda Campaign", thus taking the Chinese system of information control global. #citycameron19
@isabelhilton .@isabelhilton: “In 2013, a journalist leaked a communiqué known as ‘Document 9’, notorious among China watchers as the text that made it inescapably clear that Xi Jinping’s China had turned its back on the trend towards liberalisation of the previous decades. #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton: “In Sept this year, Chinese media were notified that all staff must pass a test on Xi Jinping Thought in order to continue to work. They are now expected to download an app - known in the trade as the Little Red App.” #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton: “Discourse control is about the power to shape the conversation to your advantage." #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton: “There are two aspects to this: 1) selling your own message 2) trying to discredit, drown out or silence any narrative that challenges yours. Both are very much in evidence.” #citycameron19
@isabelhilton .@isabelhilton: “Another key audience that China has targeted almost unnoticed and with some success are the overseas Chinese. This is a large and increasingly influential constituency.” #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton: “In 2007 Guo Zhaojin, president of the China News Service, described these foreign language media that migrant communities use as ‘giants hiding in plain sight’. It’s increasingly a Beijing-friendly giant.” #citycameron19
@isabelhilton .@isabelhilton: “At a time when it is more important than ever to be able to trust our sources, to understand who is claiming our attention, and who is trying to persuade us, it would be unwise to underestimate China’s capacity.” #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton: “China has deep pockets, and the Party sees this as a critical front … If we are clear about what we think good journalism is, and how important we think it is to well-functioning societies and political systems, now is the moment.” #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton: “We are also in a time of strategic rivalry between the US and China, and both sides make it clear that they wish third countries to choose. Perhaps a UK outside the EU will have to choose, but if we are to make that choice, what should inform it?” #citycameron19
@isabelhilton .@isabelhilton concludes the 2019 James Cameron Memorial Lecture by saying: “We should understand that sowing doubt about trust and truth is a game the Party has played since its earliest times.” #citycameron19
.@isabelhilton: “[The Party] is playing on our field now, so at the very least, we need to be sure that we understand the game and that our own game is up to it.” #citycameron19
