China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector • Hacker News Board

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#71

Post by ResearchCode » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 5:28 PM UTC

systemvoltage wrote: post #57

solmag wrote: post #34

Americans be like "our media is owned by these two large companies, we are freedom brave".

US Gov doesn't prevent you from starting your own.

The US Gov is effectively Google Facebook and they will shut you down or shadowban you under some pretense. As well as the politically protected duopoly Visa, Mastercard refusing payment processing. If Cloudflare even allows your site to stay up. You survive that, you also have to dodge secret police assassins and top politicians calling for your murder as with Assange and Wikileaks.

But yes aside from that you are totally free to start your own media.

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#72

Post by machiaweliczny » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 5:30 PM UTC

refurb wrote: post #35

Gustomaximus wrote: post #20

On the flip side China purchased most Chinese language media in Australia some time back. https://www.smh.com.au/national/chinese-language-newspapers-...

Seems like China sees Australia as the front line in their battle with the West. The recent nuclear submarine deal makes a lot more sense with that world view.

Makes sense as AFAIK they are reliant on China with their economy

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#73

Post by ChemSpider » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 5:44 PM UTC

machiaweliczny wrote: post #72

refurb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like China sees Australia as the front line in their battle with the West. The recent nuclear submarine deal makes a lot more sense with that world view.

Makes sense as AFAIK they are reliant on China with their economy

I thought so, too. But it seems it is more the other way around: Australia was doing fine (can sell its stuff elsewhere), but China needs the imports:

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3151549/c...

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#74

Post by DiogenesKynikos » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 5:50 PM UTC

jollybean wrote: post #16

xtian wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think people in China don't know how to use VPNs and find information on the broader Internet? They do. It seems like you may be the one living in a bubble.

A VPN will get you a few research papers, and some insight into the world outside, but it won't change common attitudes within the country, which will be shaped by a controlled information system. Having a 'hole' in the information firewall can be useful for some things, but it's still a marginal effect. Most of the population won't have any use for it - they'll have no reason to question what's in the mainstream. Wh…

Just a comment on the following:

> Taiwan, Uyghurs or Tibet, Hong Kong

These are not the types of issues that most Chinese people are upset about, when it comes to their government. These are the types of issues that play well to audiences outside of China.

There's a massive disconnect here. Most controversies, cultural trends, fads, etc. in China receive almost no coverage outside of China, not because it's intrinsically difficult to find out about them (all you need is an internet connection and Chinese language skills), but because the foreign media tends to focus almost exclusively on the types of issues you listed. The vast majority of people outside China simply have no idea what's going on in the country.

This isn't to excuse the lack of independent media in China, but just to point out that the foreign media is also doing the public a massive disservice on this count.

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#75

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

systemvoltage wrote: post #57

solmag wrote: post #34

Americans be like "our media is owned by these two large companies, we are freedom brave".

US Gov doesn't prevent you from starting your own.

[deleted]

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#76

Post by qqtt » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

djohnston wrote: post #29

In the West privately funded media has increased polarisation over the last 50 years, so having stronger public investments in media could be helpful to stop this pervasive divisiveness. China has the opposite configuration where the state controls all information and you'll be re-educated if you say the wrong thing loud enough. These are both extremes that are undesirable IMO.

A bit naive to assume there isn't quite a bit of centralized control of media in the West. Not only are the media largely owned by a scant few large conglomerates - the government itself also gets routinely involved in controlling the narrative.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#77

Post by secondaryacct » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

pasabagi wrote: post #59

djohnston wrote: post #29

In the West privately funded media has increased polarisation over the last 50 years, so having stronger public investments in media could be helpful to stop this pervasive divisiveness. China has the opposite configuration where the state controls all information and you'll be re-educated if you say the wrong thing loud enough. These are both extremes that are undesirable IMO.

It's not really opposites, though. Private media is highly centralized, and the people involved are also highly involved in politics (Rupert Murdoch, for instance). In China, high up party members are generally very wealthy, and wealthy people generally are highly involved in the party, so it's the same politically-well-connected elite that would be involved in media in the west in any case - it's just backed up by f…

What do you think of France where the media is highly political, but politics no bi-polarized (13 parties in big elections, 5 large movement/ideologies)?

We even learn at school that no writing can be objective since humans write them but what matters is to identify ideological stances and read enough subjective angles to have at least an opinion on where stakeholders stand if not "the truth"?

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#78

Post by ralusek » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 6:12 PM UTC

qqtt wrote: post #76

djohnston wrote: post #29

In the West privately funded media has increased polarisation over the last 50 years, so having stronger public investments in media could be helpful to stop this pervasive divisiveness. China has the opposite configuration where the state controls all information and you'll be re-educated if you say the wrong thing loud enough. These are both extremes that are undesirable IMO.

A bit naive to assume there isn't quite a bit of centralized control of media in the West. Not only are the media largely owned by a scant few large conglomerates - the government itself also gets routinely involved in controlling the narrative. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html

The west increasingly has completely independent news sources via places like YouTube.

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#79

Post by ffwszgf » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 6:17 PM UTC

ralusek wrote: post #78

qqtt wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit naive to assume there isn't quite a bit of centralized control of media in the West. Not only are the media largely owned by a scant few large conglomerates - the government itself also gets routinely involved in controlling the narrative. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html

The west increasingly has completely independent news sources via places like YouTube.

A lot of these channels will have to leave the platform as anti fake news and disinformation laws get tougher

Re: China proposes prohibiting private investment in news service sector

#80

Post by raincom » Sat, Oct 09, 2021, 6:19 PM UTC

pasabagi wrote: post #59

djohnston wrote: post #29

In the West privately funded media has increased polarisation over the last 50 years, so having stronger public investments in media could be helpful to stop this pervasive divisiveness. China has the opposite configuration where the state controls all information and you'll be re-educated if you say the wrong thing loud enough. These are both extremes that are undesirable IMO.

It's not really opposites, though. Private media is highly centralized, and the people involved are also highly involved in politics (Rupert Murdoch, for instance). In China, high up party members are generally very wealthy, and wealthy people generally are highly involved in the party, so it's the same politically-well-connected elite that would be involved in media in the west in any case - it's just backed up by f…

In the west, governments collude with the media entities. This collusion is not discussed in the mainstream or in the academia that much, as the latter is part of that collusive cooperative. In China, CCP controls the media. The difference between China and the West is one level of indirection.