China Approves Giant Propaganda Machine To Improve Global Image (bloomberg.com) 157
China has approved the creation of one of the world's largest propaganda machines as it looks to improve its global image, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. From the report: The new broadcaster will be called "Voice of China," the person said, mimicking the U.S. government-funded Voice of America that started up during World War II to advance American interests. Bloomberg News had previously reported the new entity would be created through merging China Central Television, China Radio International and China National Radio. The combined group was designed to strengthen the party's ability to shape public opinion and would serve as a key vehicle for China to project its image to the world.
That's one way to do it (Score:5, Funny)
I guess this is easier than actually acting better?
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if you want to summon them you have to include terms other than just china. jail is a good one
china jail
chinese jail
too bad slashdot sucks at utf8 or I'd include some chinese text too
now marvel as all the pro china comments shoot up to +5
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So long there exist those who can remind that world that it doesn't matter so much what some nation says , as it matters what that nation does , China will fail to convince folks that it has any goal other than putting ever-more power over others into the hands of its selfish leaders.
But the whole point of weaponized social media is that it makes you think you are reading what they are doing, you cannot separate the fake information that says that
China is ending pollution in its slave colonies in Afrika
from some whiny truth-pretender who says
China is poisoning millions of acres in Africa
Think of social media manipulation as analogous to CGI, two things have happened to our viewing of movies now that CGI rules the screen.
We are not as amazed by flashy space-opera fights between X-wings and Star destroyers
and
We now sometimes assume that an expensive flashy screen event is CGI when in fact it was real, and we really don't care about that distinction
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the beetlejuice / biggie smalls effect!
Summon the china payed trolls!
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I don't think I've seen it on Slashdot though. I guess that this is due to this site's smaller size, the differences in randomly allotted mod points vs every acc
Re:That's one way to do it (Score:5, Funny)
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Which countries will arrest and convict you for making a joke? A shorter list is; which country will not arrest and convict you for making a joke.
I think it is safe to say that any country that will convict you for humor is not in any position to act as a moral guide post and do not exemplify any definition of "better".
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In the USA you can be charged and arrested for a felony for tasteless humor on Facebook. [cnn.com] People overestimate their freedom of speech and face serious consequences surprisingly often.
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Let's just make sure we are all on the same page.
m8 yer dugs a nazi [youtube.com] Count Dankula has been convicted today for that video in Scotland.
Compared to a tweet that said: "I'm f***ed in the head alright. I think I'ma (sic) shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down and eat the beating heart of one of them. "" Followed by "LOL J/K". 2 months after Sandy Hook elementary mass shooting.
I don't know the right answer but the later tweet borders an actual crime ie threat of violence. Bordering
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That threshold has already been defined. Libel, slander, incitement to violence, perjury, etc. are considered crimes to be considered in court.
You're correct that the US does have protections to free speech built into the constitution. Burning the flag is considered free speech, and the supreme court reaffirmed that there is no exception to the first amendment for hate speech. [washingtonpost.com]
That said, the letter and spirit of the law matters less than your ability to pay for lawyers to defend you, and post bail. Thus
Re: That's one way to do it (Score:2)
Here is how we banish you. "Tiananmen Square" "Tank Man"
There. Now you can't see this entire thread anymore.
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No, Xi, images and reports of those things are banned by the Great Firewall.
But you know that, of course. Really, you guys have a lot of catching up to do to reach Russia's level of shitposting.
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People laughed at me when I wept when the Soviet Union fell. Back when the evil Russians still existed our leaders had to pretend they're the good guys. Back then we had a evil empire that forced ours to be good. Today we have an evil empire that bribes ours to be as bad so it doesn't get noticed anymore.
They are acting better too, you know (Score:2, Interesting)
They're adding the whole "social credit" system to their society, meaning that if you say Bad Things (or anything at all) about Tibet, say, or include the letter N in your weibo tweets, or something else the censor doesn't like... you're barred from trains and airplanes for a year.
See? They're working hard at making all the Chinese act better, more harmonious and in line with the party.
And yes, they're deadly serious about it. They just told all their citizens: You will act better, or else!
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China bans Winnie the Pooh
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-40627855
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They do have Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park. That's suspiciously close to Disney.
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Well it is.
I would like you to name a country, who is void of any bad behavior, who has parts of its past it doesn't try to hide to explain away.
Now I am not taking China off the hook, they have some serious human rights violations they are still doing. However they have seem to be getting the Most Improved award over the past generations (still a low hanging fruit).
But it is easy to keep on focusing on the negatives of every country and not seeing the positives going out, and sometime you need some extra m
Re:That's one way to do it (Score:5, Insightful)
Dictatorship is still dictatorship. They don't get off the hook until they become a functioning democracy and adopt some form of human rights guarantees and dedication to upholding them.
You may or may not like our president, in fact raw statistics would suggest you probably strongly dislike him. But our press is free to, and perhaps has actually enjoyed criticizing him without fear of retribution. He's twisted the screws, but our police force has been able to successfully investigate him and locked a few of his most corrupt cronies a way, and may yet get him. Protestors that roamed the streets and in a few cases were actually doing dangerous and unjustifiable things in the name of "anger", were not driven over by tanks. Our business leaders, who are split on liking and loathing him, have been able to take appropriate actions to protect the interests of their companies. We have no great firewall, even if Russia demonstrates that perhaps we needed one, my money is on us surviving this and coming out stronger and more discerning.
It's not perfect and there are abuses, but until China can demostrate that they are MORE free and LESS abusive than we are, I'm going to continue to consider them a dangerous dictatorship that needs to be put down when convenient.
Re: That's one way to do it (Score:2)
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According to Iron Sky, I'd guess it could be Finland.
Re:That's one way to do it (Score:4, Insightful)
Chinese gov will be pushing this on many other nations, esp on their new international road.
With VOC, they will be able to BS their way all around.
Sadly, the one thing that you will NOT hear, is the truth.
This will be far more like regular Chinese news, Pravda, Fox News, or Breitbart.
Just a bunch of propaganda.
What is sad is that VOA made a big todo to NOT spew propaganda, but instead to simply get the facts/truth out.
I will say that with Trump/Today's GOP in charge, I do not know what we are broadcasting anymore.
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Works for Republicans.
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Well, duh!
What's "better" though? China still has one of the fastest growing economies. That certainly is good for ... well, at least some Chinese. Not all, of course. Same as here, you know? Just with no growing economy and you can choose between two assholes to dictate your laws instead of having to go with only one.
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Great China please be contended already betterest. When temporary old hand go speak no unripe propaganda. If herein internet bring inconvenience please understanding. From China to World - is the common goal of us!
"Made in China" (Score:2)
Re:"Made in China" (Score:4, Insightful)
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I currently have to bribe some official in another town to go to the embassy for me to bribe a higher up official to get my visa even in line for processing. It's another bribe to get it processed within a month. Certainly not easy or cheap to get to china. Guess its easier if you're an inanimate object.
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It's a natural consequence of beginning with little expertise or experience meaning that the only way to compete is on price. As a country does that over several decades they start to build up skill and competency that allows them to command higher prices for their higher quality goods. Meanwhile some oth
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Every country that industrializes does it at some point. Even the U.S. went through a period where it was thought of as making cheap, inferior goods compared to what European manufacturers could produce.
I don't think e.g. "made in USA" is a particularly good label nowadays, except in the USA.
Re: "Made in China" (Score:3)
Re: "Made in China" (Score:2)
Why was Japan putting "Made in China" on things? :)
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Didn't you ever produce defective products and still wanted to sell them?
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Actually CNN is bleeding money so badly I think they could be had for cheap. And they're already anti-American and pro-Communist so they don't really need to change the format, they could probably keep everyone there with the exception of maybe Jake Tapper.
Re: CNN and MSNBC can be had for cheap (Score:2)
Netcraft confirms: BSD is dying.
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And bleeding money? They laid off 50 ppl, while Fox laid off 10,000+, AND is selling itself to Disney. Who exactly is bleeding money?.
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Fox laid off 10,000+? Why did you leave out the part that those layoffs are part of Disney's acquisition of Fox?
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Please. There's things even the Chinese won't touch, they already have enough pollution at home, why import more?
"Voice of China" (Score:1)
"The new broadcaster will be called "Voice of China""
Because "Washington Post" and "New York Times" were already taken.
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No, I meant "propaganda machine".
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Wow! Those Chinese are smart! (Score:3)
er (Score:5, Interesting)
mimicking the U.S. government-funded Voice of America that started up during World War II to advance American interests.
Er, yeah, if by "advance American interests" you mean "combat worldwide totalitarian movements that were grinding humanity under their boots".
China, OTOH, is the massive totalitarian movement grinding humanity under their boots.
Re:er (Score:5, Insightful)
Your response shows the investment in VOA has worked
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That's right, American exceptionalism does continue. We're so exceptional, that on the same day we celebrate the anniversary of freedom from a distant tyrannical government, we won't think twice about having to que up and have our genitals fondled or be digitally strip searched by federal agents just so that we can use modern forms of travel.
We're so exceptional, we'll send our kids to schools and expect them to conform to a daily ritual of pledging obedience and parroting a line of hollow dogma about lib
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what are you even talking about, that is such an arbitrary and irrelevant determining factor
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However, all of that stopped clear back with Carter, though reagan was an exception. Even W's invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq was not about economics. Afghanistan was about America rightly (though in the wrong fashion) protecting ourselves from
Re:er (Score:5, Insightful)
Saudis, Guzzetti, Branco, Pinochet, Chiang, Batista, Battalion, Suharto, the Shah, Saddam Hussein, Vang Pao, Somosa, Mobutu .. just a small list of dictators supported by the US.
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You know that there was time between WW2 and now, yes? Because until WW2 you might have had a case.
Re: er (Score:2)
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How many countries has China invaded?
China doesn't need to invade other countries to hold the world record for deaths in war. Most people who have ever been killed in a war [wikipedia.org] were Chinese killed in internal conflicts. Most people who have ever been killed by a brutal dictator were killed by Mao.
Your whataboutism fails to distract from the truth. Most people who have ever been killed by a government, either in war or in purges of undesirables, have been killed by the Chinese government. All other governments ever in the world combined have do
Arrogance (Score:1)
not surprising, but has consequences due to time (Score:2, Insightful)
Fortunately, America DID clean up our act.
Now, we have China wanting to bring dictatorships all over the world. Problem is, that so many ppl have bee
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When Egypt voted in the Muslim brotherhood, we STILL backed it when the army took over, which is why they jumped over to Russia/China for support.
And no, Muslim brotherhood is NOT a fan of America, nor we of them. BUT we did not interfere with them.
I am astounded (Score:2)
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CNN never claimed to be "fair and balanced".
Works too well in the USA already (Score:2)
Fox News and Friends have become so powerful instead of merely being a propaganda arm they now have taken over control of the Republicans. The suckers who were just supposed to be managed (vote & donate) are now literally running and getting into positions of power!
It's now an incestuous insular cycle. The end result of too much success.
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Yeah, remember when the Gerber baby and a retired actor were made Republican Presidents? Damn Fox News!
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The problem is the left puts opinion in the news headlines, let alone stories. The funny thing is people are so anti Trump pro crappy stuff they cannot see the difference between facts and opinions and don't even accept other people are allowed to differ in opinions.
Comment re: fox is so
the US is much more subtle. (Score:1)
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Actually, CNN is centrist, not left-leaning. But they found out bashing Trump is a ratings bonanza and cranked it up. And it's cheap because he provides so much eyebrow-raising material for free. 4: Profit!
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Welcome to Capitalism 101
Propaganda Machine... (Score:2)
Am I the only one who read the headline and immediatley had a picture of a gigantic rube goldberg style machine clanking away and belching great plumes smoke periodically with newspapers with various front page coming out on a conveyor belt? Maybe I saw that in a cartoon somewhen. Now it's stuck in my head.
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Am I the only one who...
Yes.
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Oh, good. For a moment, I had this horrible thought that I might not be strange.
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No, I imagined it too.
"Enjoy your truth, citizen." *shoves newspaper down throat*
Ironically... (Score:2)
proving that they really are just like all the other fascist dictatorships.
Does this mean... (Score:2)
... that I'll no longer get to chuckle at a "news" channel called CCTV, or have to explain to non-Americans why that's funny?
Reinventing the wheel (Score:2)
Or they could do things that make them look better (Score:2)
Next step... (Score:2)
...closing down all outlets that are not seen as pro-regime.
Something we really don't need: a chinese sized North Korea.
USA isn't any better! (Score:1)
We have quite a plethora of state and corporate manipulated propaganda machines: FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, Turner,
Oh, and let's not forget NPR! Have a look at their donors.
Nothing new here. (Score:1)
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But he's a lovable and cuddly dictator, like a Mr. Rogers + teddy-bear love-child.
I wonder what forces and organizations counter their propaganda. Taiwan, their mortal enemy, may be trying to counter.