林德宜：西方媒体反华推手（上篇）

毫无疑问，西方英文媒体是煽动对中国崛起的恐惧和反华情绪的最重要推手。凭借数十年来在全球新闻媒体中的主导地位，西方主流媒体不仅为本国且为全世界的阅听众，设订和垄断了新闻议程和报导，尤其是在英语通用的地方。

西方媒体维护美国、英国、澳洲及其盟国的政治和经济利益角色，当然不是什么新鲜事。这是一个存在已久的事实，在冷战时期尤其明显。那时，我们每天可在印刷媒体和广播，电影和电视上，看到西方媒体对主要敌人，苏联和其他共产主义国家进行妖魔化。

这种媒体操纵有三个方面。首先是抹黑敌人并制造大规模恐惧和偏执狂。第二，是消解和压制任何国内或国际上，对敌人的同情或善意。第三是宣传西方民主制度的良好形象，捍卫反专制和压迫政权的自由和权利之价值观。

今天，西方通过大众传播媒介传播的文化帝国主义，直接剑直中国。这些媒体不仅包括属于媒体大亨梅铎的右翼报纸。诸如美国有线电视新闻网（CNN），《卫报》，《华盛顿邮报》和《纽约时报》等所谓的独立或政治上较中立的媒体，也随之起舞走上攻击中国的路线。

与冷战时期相比，如今通过新闻报导对中国展开的攻击要复杂得多，除了有亲西方的政治立场外，最新一轮的宣传或偏颇的新闻与分析报导，还带有强烈的种族主义议程。美国特朗普政权最突出的特征之一，就是煽动情绪，以分化和强化文化和种族差异，以及对非白人的敌意。如今，美国，英国和其他西方主流媒体也拥护这作法，这也是为何西方社会当前会出现反华和仇恨亚裔情绪以及暴力浪潮。

含有政经议程

最近的两个新闻报导实例提醒我们西方媒体在报导中国时，含有的政治和社会经济真实意图。

第一则是大肆渲染中国长征5号B火箭碎片的报导，以警示世界，这是中国的不负责任和“不遵守”国际准则例子。

美国太空总署署长比尔·纳尔逊参议员对中国长征5号B火箭碎片事件就声明：“航天国家必须将重返地球的物体对地球上的人员和财产的风险降至最低，并最大程度地提高这些操作的透明度。显然，中国没有在处理本国太空垃圾上达到负责任的标准。”

无论是在发射火箭还是发动战争事件中，纳尔逊和其组织以及美国的其他组织，在指责其他国家未能遵守“负责任的标准”之前，应先好好照照镜子。

根据地球轨道追踪网站CelesTrak的分析员凯尔索（TS Kelso）的说法：“这不只是一个火箭残骸……因地球轨道上有许多不受控的火箭残骸”有关问题的严重性，可以通过CelesTrak上公开的数据了解。“在地球轨道上有2033个火箭残骸……这只是公开航天轨道上的数据，因为可能还有一些机密没有公布的。当然，这些残骸都不受控制。在2033个残骸中，546个属于美国，只有169个属于中国。”　（待续）

《西方媒体反华推手》（上篇）（Western Media Dogs Of War）原文：

Undoubtedly one of the most important players in fanning fear of the rise of China and anti-Chinese sentiment is the western English language media. Using its decades old dominance of global news outlets, mainstream Western media has set and monopolized the agenda and news coverage for audiences not only in their own countries but also around the world, especially where English is the lingua franca. 

The western media role in protecting the political and economic interests of the United States, Britain, Australia and its other allies is of course nothing new. It is a long established fact especially visible in the cold war period. At that time we had demonization of the principal enemy, the Soviet Union and other communist countries, conducted on a daily basis in the print media and over radio, film and television. 

There were three dimensions of this media manipulation. The first was to smear the enemy and create mass fear and paranoia. The second was to push back and put down any domestic or international sympathy or goodwill towards the targeted enemy. The third was to propagate the image of virtuous Western democratic systems fighting to preserve values of freedom and rights against authoritarian and oppressive regimes. 

Today the same cultural imperialism of the west through its mass media is directed at China. These media dogs of war include not only the right wing newspapers belonging to Rupert Murdoch. A similar line of attack is pursued by so-called more independent or politically neutral media outlets such as CNN, the Guardian, Washington Post and the New York Times. 

Though somewhat more sophisticated in bashing China in today’s news coverage compared with during the cold war era, the latest bout of propagandistic or slanted news and analysis, in addition to its pro-West political stance, comes with a strong racist agenda. Playing up to sentiments aimed at polarizing and reinforcing cultural and racial differences and animosity against a non-white enemy was one of the most outstanding characteristics of Trump’s regime. This approach, now embraced by much of the mainstream American, British and other western media, accounts for the current wave of anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment and random violence in the west.  

Two recent examples of news reporting serve to remind us of the real political and socio-economic intentions of the western media in their China coverage.

Western Media Coverage of Long March B5 Fallout

The first is the way in which coverage of the debris associated with China’s Long March B5 rocket was sensationalized to alarm the world as an example of China’s irresponsibility and ‘failure’ to adhere to international standards.

NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson released the following statement regarding debris from the Chinese Long March 5B rocket: “Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations. It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.”

Nelson and his own organization and others in the US need a reminder to look into the mirror before accusing other nations of failure to adhere to “responsible standards” - whether this is in firing rockets or waging wars. 

According to T. S. Kelso, member of CelesTrak, an analytical group that keeps an eye on Earth-orbiting objects: "It really isn't about this one rocket body … because every rocket body in Earth orbit is uncontrolled," The true magnitude of the problem can be identified by a quick check on CelesTrak. "It shows there are 2,033 rocket bodies in Earth orbit … at least those that we have orbital data for, as there may be more classified ones. Of course, every one of them is uncontrolled. Of the 2,033, 546 belong to the U.S. and only 169 belong to China.”