TRANSCRIPT:
With VOA gone, China expands its Tibetan programming
Chinese national radio, for instance, expanded its Tibetan-language programming from one program to 17. This is something that we see as [part of] the dramatic scale up that comes along [with] the suspension of Tibetan services of RFA and VOA, because VOA was one of the — the only actually — windows [in] two ways: one is window for people inside of the country to receive, you know, unbiased, factual, pluralistic information about the situation on the ground, and provided investigation about what is happening still in Tibet. But also for the people outside, because they [VOA] still managed to get out information about the situation on the ground, provide [the] public around the world with the reliable sources on what is happening.
How did VOA Tibetan report in the past?
We have this situation with Tibetan floods recently where there’s almost no international media that could replicate what VOA was doing in the past, and providing people with the accurate and reliable information. Because what VOA does is working with Tibetan media outlets, with Tibetan independent journalists that still have access to people on the ground, that have experience, knowledge, language skills, and were more accurate in their reporting than any other media outlets. And VOA was the only source of information like this.
And now China is taking advantage.
So, it’s really a dangerous precedent to us to see that within just a few months, China’s using this situation — is basically filling this void that was created by the current U.S. administration — with its propaganda to target the people on the ground, but also to spread, you know, the propaganda narratives outside of Tibet.
Can limited VOA Mandarin digital programming counter China?
We cannot have only a VOA online and RFA on the social media because in the authoritarian countries with the internet shutdowns, with basically great firewalls, very often the radio is the only source of information for those people on the ground. And we cannot only think about media from the perspective of the Western countries, where indeed social media or [the] internet is becoming the main tool for receiving the information. We really need VOA back to its, you know, traditional scope [of] broadcasting in this region because this is the only way of trying to fight back what China is trying to do in the past years, and especially these months, with spreading of its propaganda.
Published
Bielakowska is an advocacy manager at Reporters Without Borders, where she works for press freedom, independent media and the safety of journalists in the Asia-Pacific region. A Polish national, Bielakowska is based in Taipei and is an expert voice on media interference throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.