Western media should stop living in the past

What skills does the British Broadcasting Corporation look for in its employees? Some netizens from home and abroad have summed it up as follows.

The ability to create topics, but following the principle of having the conclusion first and looking for evidence to prove it later; the ability to use a low camera stand and shake the camera to make the footage look like from a candid camera reflecting the truth; applying post-editing techniques that use voice-over to misinterpret interviewees, and using dark color filter and background music to create the special effects of the netherworld.

Particularly, in its coverage of China, BBC feels no qualms about encouraging its reporters and editors to develop these abilities and put them to practical use.

In one of its recent reports on China's COVID-19 prevention and control measures, BBC showed a video clip of an anti-terrorism drill in the country, telling audiences that the video recorded the Chinese epidemic prevention and control department's violent enforcement of law and infringement of human rights.

In its reporting from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, China Daily interviewed people at the exact places as in the BBC program on the so-called "human rights" issues, only to find that none of the "facts" the British media outlet tried to hype up in the program are correct.

However, BBC does not repent its open violation of professional ethics and codes of journalism.

In another example, BBC randomly interviewed some Chinese people on the streets in a program on China's COVID-19 prevention and control measures. When some of the people said China has done a much better job than the United Kingdom in controlling the virus, which might have come from some other country, the BBC anchor remarked sarcastically that the Chinese government was brainwashing its people.

When the world needs to know more about China, some Western media organizations are actually depriving the people of their rights.

As Martin Jacques, a British journalist and researcher on China, said, the West must learn to accept China's success, and know that bringing shame on China cannot be sustained forever, and the Western media must always bear that in mind, as they cannot live in the past forever.

－XIAKEDAO, WECHAT ACCOUNT OF PEOPLE'S DAILY OVERSEAS EDITION