為了市場 外企向中國審查低頭
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2014/4/11
2014-04-02 Web
only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：天下雜誌 |
中國拜巨大的市場之賜，對外國企業和政府一向擁有影響力。這樣的影響力可以追溯至毛澤東時代後期，當時，中國並未開放市場，只有開放的前兆。
今日，中國共產黨在各方面皆具有強大的影響力，亦成功讓企業主和各國領袖噤聲，或是軟化他們的批評。不管是好萊塢製片廠還是網路公司，內容供應者全都準備好妥協，以換取在中國作生意的機會。
最近，這樣的影響力已經開始展現於新聞和出版產業──那並非針對在中國市場發行的內容，而是要給外國人看、可能會讓中國官方不滿的內容。《觀察家報》在3月29日報導，原本計畫出版精簡版小說選集的讀者文摘，決定向中國印刷廠的審查要求低頭。中國官方禁止法輪功，並將法輪功視作「邪惡異教」；出問題的那篇虛構故事，提及一名法輪功人士遭逮捕和拷問。該選集以英語印行，而且不會在中國發售。
3月24日，美國媒體觀察家羅米耐斯科（Jim Romenesko）報導，彭博新聞的香港編輯理查森（Ben Richardson）請辭。理查森表示，辭職是為了抗議管理層處理一則調查報導的方式，亦即管理層擋下了報導，卻不願明白承認；該調查報導的內容，與一位中國富豪以及他和中國高層領導的關係有關。3月20日，彭博董事長格勞爾（Peter T. Grauer）表示，他的新聞組織根本不該追蹤政治敏感度這麼高的報導；這段話是在香港的公開場合中說出，顯示格勞爾似乎是在向中國隱晦地表達他的看法。
《經濟學人》先前已數次談及此議題，本篇自我審查議題的報導亦有可能遭到過度解讀；多數新聞人員和出版商都會抵抗這樣的壓力。
然而，壓力不會消失，至少也會有部分受到中國市場吸引的人，選擇迎合這股壓力。3月31日，CNN香港主播魯可蒂（Kristie Lu Stout）在推特發表了一段她與一群MBA學生的問答；她問他們願不願意「阻擋一則重要的中國報導以確保進入市場的機會？」答案是響亮無比的「願意」。（黃維德編譯）
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
China's censorship leverage
Watch what you
say, even at home
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: April 02, 2014
Mar 31st 2014,
14:34 by G.E. | BEIJING
CHINA has long
enjoyed leverage over foreign businesses and governments thanks to the lure of
its huge market. This goes back even to the latter days of Mao when there was
no market to access, just the portent of one.
Today the
Communist Party wields its now formidable leverage in all manner of ways,
successfully muting or softening criticism from CEOs and world leaders.
Purveyors of content—whether Hollywood studios or internet companies—readily
make compromises in order to do business in China.
Of late this
leverage has been on display in the businesses of journalism and publishing—not
in content for the Chinese market, where one expects it, but in content meant
for foreign eyes that might offend official Chinese ears. On March 29th the
Observer reported that Reader's Digest, a publisher, bowed to censorship
demands from its Chinese printerof an anthology of condensed novels. The
offending fictional tale mentioned the arrest and torture of a follower of
Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that authorities have outlawed as an
"evil cult". The anthology was being printed in English and was not
being sold in China.
On March 24th Jim
Romenesko, a watcher of American media, reported the resignation from Bloomberg
Newsof Ben Richardson, an editor based in Hong Kong. Mr Richardson said he quit
in protest of management's handling—which is to say spiking but not admitting
to as much—of an investigative story about one of China's richest men and his
ties to top leaders. On March 20th Peter T. Grauer, chairman of Bloomberg L.P.,
suggestedthat his news organisation should not even be pursuing such
politically sensitive coverage. Given that he made his remarks at a public
forum in Hong Kong, it seemed he was metaphorically shouting his sentiments
across to mainland China.
We have written
about this issue before in this space, hereand here. This story of
self-censorship can be oversold. Most journalists and publishers resist such
pressure.
The pressure will
keep being applied, though, and at least some of those who are tempted by the
China market will respond accordingly. Kristie Lu Stout, a presenter for CNN in
Hong Kong, tweetedon March 31st about what happened when she asked a roomful of
MBA students whether they would "spike a critical China story to secure market
access?" The answer, she wrote, was a "resounding yes".
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
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