Global Times

The Global Times (simplified Chinese: 环球时报; traditional Chinese: 環球時報; pinyin: Huánqiú Shíbào) is a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily, commenting on international issues from a Chinese nationalistic perspective.[1][2][3][4][5] The publication is sometimes called "China's Fox News" for its propaganda and the monetization of nationalism.[6][7][8][9]

Global Times
环球时报
TypeDaily newspaper (Weekdays with a weekend edition)
FormatTabloid
Owner(s)Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
PublisherPeople's Daily
PresidentFan Zhengwei
EditorWu Qimin
Founded1993, (Chinese edition)
2009, (English edition)
Political alignmentChinese Communist Party
LanguageChinese and English
HeadquartersNo.2 Jintai Xilu, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100733, People's Republic of China
ISSN2095-2678
OCLC number144515996
Websiteglobaltimes.cn (English)
huanqiu.com (Simplified Chinese)

Established as a publication in 1993, its English version was launched in 2009. The editor-in-chief of Global Times was Hu Xijin until December 2021, who has been described as an early adopter of the "wolf warrior" communication strategy of loudly denouncing perceived criticism of the Chinese government and its policies.[10] The newspaper has been the source of various incidents, including fabrications, conspiracy theories, and disinformation.[note 1] It is part of a broader set of Chinese state media outlets that constitute the Chinese government's propaganda apparatus.[18][19]

History

Established as a Chinese-language weekly publication in 1993, an English-language version was launched on 20 April 2009 as part of a Chinese government campaign to compete with overseas media.[20][21][1]

In 2009, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of both Chinese and English versions at the time, stated that he expected it to make a loss of 20 million yuan in its first year as an English-language publication.[22] In 2016, Hu said the Global Times was profitable but faced difficulties that would be familiar to other newspaper editors.[23]

The Global Times launched its US edition in 2013.[1] In 2016, it was reported that the English-language edition then had approximately 20 "foreign experts" who were involved with assigning stories and copyediting, "as long as the coverage [wa]s not about politics".[24]

In April 2017, the Global Times signed a personnel exchange deal with Sputnik, a Russian state media outlet.[25]

In 2019, the Global Times won a three-year contract with the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China to monitor overseas social media and provide regular briefings and "comprehensive response plans."[26]

In December 2021, Hu Xijin announced that he would be stepping down as editor-in-chief.[10][27]

Editorial stance

The Chinese-language version has been known to have a pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) slant, attracting a nationalistic readership since its inception in 1993.[22][7][28] When launched in 2009, its editors claimed that the Global Times' English-language version took a less nationalistic stance than its Chinese-language counterpart.[29]

Sources both in mainland China and abroad have said that the Global Times is not generally representative of the Chinese government's political positions, while the People's Daily is considered more representative.[30][31][32] Others have stated that the Global Times' editorial stance has been viewed as channeling the views of the hardline faction of top leadership.[33] Some scholars have noted that Global Times' more nationalistic stance permits other official state-run media to appear more moderate in tone.[34] According to its former editor Hu Xijin, the Global Times publishes what CCP officials privately think, but do not express in public.[35]

Hu Xijin has been described as an early adopter of the "wolf warrior" communication strategy of aggressively hitting back at criticism of the Chinese government.[10] His departure in December 2021, reportedly due to Beijing "strengthening the paper's political guidance", was (according to The Diplomat) connected to efforts of toning down overly confrontational rhetoric, following a deterioration of China's international reputation and CCP general secretary Xi Jinping calling for improvements in the country's international communication at a May 2021 CCP Political Bureau session.[10]

Australia

In 2016, the Global Times referred to Australia as a "paper cat" in relation to the South China Sea, and a former "offshore prison" in relation to an Olympic champion Mack Horton calling out rival Sun Yang as a drug cheat (in reference to the country's former status as a British penal colony).[36][37]

Hong Kong

In May 2016, the Global Times ran a boycott campaign denigrating Hong Kong pro-democracy singer Denise Ho for allegedly advocating independence for Hong Kong and Tibet.[38][39] On 5 June, Lancôme cancelled a promotional concert by the Cantopop star that was scheduled to be held on 19 June in Sheung Wan.[39] Lancôme also added, in a Facebook post, that Ho was not a spokesperson for the brand.[40] The Tibet allegation appeared to have stemmed from Ho's May 2016 meeting with the Dalai Lama.[39] The cancellation drew a heavy backlash in Hong Kong.[39][38] Some Lancôme shops in Hong Kong were shut down during the protests.[41] Listerine, another brand that Ho represents, retained the singer despite the fact that the Global Times also criticized that company hiring Ho as its public face in Hong Kong.[39]

In August 2019, Global Times editor Hu Xijin accused the United States of instigating the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.[2]

Incidents

COVID-19 disinformation

The Global Times has spread unfounded conspiracy theories and disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[note 2] In January 2021, the Global Times urged Australia not to use the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.[50][51] In March 2022, the Global Times republished an article by the British conspiracist website The Exposé which falsely claimed COVID-19 was created by Moderna.[52]

Astroturfing allegations

Richard Burger, a former editor at Global Times, alleges that in the wake of the 2011 arrest of Ai Weiwei, the Chinese staff of the Global Times were ordered by the Chinese Communist Party to conduct an "astroturfing" campaign against "maverick" Ai Weiwei.[53]

Fabricated quotes

In October 2015, Roderick MacFarquhar, a China expert at Harvard University, spoke at a conference on Marxism in Beijing. He said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping's talk of the so-called Chinese Dream was "not the intellectually coherent, robust and wide-ranging philosophy needed to stand up to Western ideas." The Global Times reported his speech as saying that the "Chinese Dream" would "make great contributions and exert a positive impact on human development." MacFarquhar said that the paraphrasing was a "total fabrication". The line was later removed by the newspaper from its story.[11]

Xinjiang

In 2018, the English edition of the Global Times acknowledged "counter-terrorism education" in Xinjiang, even as Chinese spokespeople denied the existence of the Xinjiang internment camps. The Economist noted: "Strikingly, rather than claiming that Western journalists misreport Xinjiang, the Global Times prefers to troll them, accusing foreign correspondents of hoping to 'profit' from negative China coverage, while asserting that the Western press is 'nowhere near as influential as it once was' and gleefully noting Mr Trump's attacks on 'fake news'."[3]

In 2019, the Global Times was criticized for perceived bias in its portrayal of Uyghurs and of disinformation campaigns regarding the Xinjiang internment camps, which led Twitter to ban it and other state-sponsored media outlets from ad purchases.[54][55][56][57] In 2021, ProPublica and The New York Times reported that Global Times was part of a coordinated state campaign to deny human rights abuses in Xinjiang.[58]

"Final solution" tweet

In October 2021, a tweet from the Global Times which called for a "Final Solution to the Taiwan Question" was condemned by German politician Frank Müller-Rosentritt of the Free Democratic Party for its similarity to the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" which resulted in the Holocaust.[59]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

In March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Global Times promoted unsubstantiated Russian claims of biological weapons labs in Ukraine.[60][61][62] The Global Times also echoed Russian state media claims that the Bucha massacre was staged.[63]

In May 2022, the Global Times said that a Canadian sniper who volunteered to fight in defense of Ukraine had "accused the Ukrainian army of inadequate weaponry, poor training, heavy losses, profiteering and desertion", citing a report by Russian state media outlet RT. The fact-checking website Polygraph.info found that RT and the Global Times had cherry-picked a report published by the Canadian newspaper La Presse to make the claim.[64]

On 23 June 2022, the Global Times tweeted a claim that thousands of protesters marched in Brussels condemning NATO's aid for Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine on June 20. However, the protest was aimed at inflation as well as high costs of living; no evidence was found that it was linked to NATO. Samuel Cogolati, a member of parliament in Belgium, condemned the claim as disinformation.[65][66]

Wagner Group rebellion

In June 2023, the Global Times accused Western media of "hyping" the Wagner Group rebellion and did not report on Yevgeny Prigozhin's claims that Russians were deceived into believing NATO was responsible for the invasion.[67]

Reception

In China

In May 2016, the Global Times was criticized domestically by the Cyberspace Administration of China for "fabricating" news on the US, the South China Sea, North Korea, and Hong Kong, and "disturbing" the order of the cyberspace.[12]

In September 2018, The Economist wrote: "It is not fashionable in China to take the Global Times seriously. Mention it at dinner with Chinese intellectuals and fireworks follow. They deplore its sabre-rattling towards Taiwan and Japan, and its deep reservoirs of grievance (this week the paper peddled a largely confected tale accusing Swedish police of brutalising some rowdy Chinese tourists)."[3]

In India

In September 2020, India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement saying that comments made by the Global Times were falsely attributed to Ajit Doval.[13]

In Singapore

In September 2016, the Global Times published an article, titled "Singapore's Delusional Reference to the South China Sea Arbitration During the Non-Aligned Movement Summit". Stanley Loh Ka Leung, then Singapore's ambassador to China, criticized the article as fake news. Loh also asked the Global Times to publish in full, in both English and Chinese, a letter he wrote to the newspaper's then editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin. Hu refuted the ambassador by saying that the Global Times' reports were reliable and based on information from people who attended the meeting, without publishing the letter that Loh had requested to be published.[14][15][16][17]

In the United States

In June 2020, the United States Department of State designated Global Times as a foreign mission.[68][69]

In February 2023, the US-China Business Council (USCBC) released a statement refuting a Global Times article that claimed USCBC representatives had criticized the US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns. The USCBC said that the claims in the report were false and expressed appreciation for Burns' work in Beijing.[70]

See also

Notes

  1. See references[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]
  2. See references[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] It has distributed disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic via Facebook posts and targeted ads.[45][46]

References

  1. Huang, Zheping (8 August 2016). "Inside the Global Times, China's hawkish, belligerent state tabloid". Quartz. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  2. Jiang, Steven (16 August 2019). "The man taking on Hong Kong from deep inside China's propaganda machine". CNN. Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  3. "China's Global Times plays a peculiar role". The Economist. 20 September 2018. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  4. Wee, Sui-Lee; Mao, Sabrina (6 January 2012). "China must assert itself despite new US strategy-paper". Reuters. Beijing. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  5. "China's Pursuit of a New World Media Order" (PDF). Reporters Without Borders. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2022. Global Times is an ultra-nationalist tabloid established by People's Daily in 1993 to comment on international news.
  6. Hernández, Javier C. (31 July 2019). "When Trump Tweets, the Editor of 'China's Fox News' Hits Back (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  7. Christina, Larson (31 October 2011). "China's Fox News". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011.
  8. Zhang, Han (14 December 2021). "China's troll king: how a tabloid editor became the voice of Chinese nationalism". The Guardian. Hu is the editor of the Global Times, a chest-thumpingly nationalistic tabloid sometimes described as "China's Fox News".
  9. Antelava, Natalia (12 December 2020). "The top 10 wildest anti-vaccination theories and why a Covid-19 shot won't alter your DNA". Coda Media. Retrieved 7 September 2022. Global Times has been described as "China's Fox news"...
  10. Powers-Riggs, Aidan; Jaramillo, Eduardo (22 January 2022). "Is China Putting 'Wolf Warriors' on a Leash?". The Diplomat. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  11. Hernández, Javier C. (15 October 2015). "In China's State News Media, What Is Said May Not Be What's Printed". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  12. "中央网信办批《环球时报》、环球网"炒作"敏感事件" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  13. "Press Statement on China Daily / Global Times article attributing false comments to NSA". Ministry of External Affairs (India). 8 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  14. Lin, Ping (27 September 2016). "新加坡驻中国大使罗家良日前批评中国《环球时报》南海报道胡编乱造". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  15. "新加坡大使怒指环球"胡编乱造"" (in Chinese). Deutsche Welle. 27 September 2016. Archived from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  16. "新加坡驻华大使罗家良先生致函《环球时报》总编辑胡锡进先生回应《环球时报》中文版于2016年9月21日所刊登的一篇报道" (in Chinese). Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  17. Yang, Lijuan (28 September 2016). "新加坡驻华大使罗家良再次致函反驳《环球时报》总编辑胡锡进" (in Chinese). Lianhe Zaobao. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  18. Javier C. Hernández (23 May 2020). "China Deploys Propaganda Machine to Defend Move Against Hong Kong". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  19. Brady, Anne-Marie (October 2015). "Authoritarianism Goes Global (II): China's Foreign Propaganda Machine". Journal of Democracy. 26 (4): 51–59. doi:10.1353/jod.2015.0056. S2CID 146531927. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  20. Huang, C. (2016). "Conservative popular journalism, public diplomacy, and the search for an alternative Chinese modernity: Revisiting the global times". In Gao, Jia; Ingram, Catherine; Kee, Pookong (eds.). Global Media and Public Diplomacy in Sino-Western Relations. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315584904. ISBN 978-1-4724-4398-4.
  21. Canaves, Sky (4 June 2009). "Global Times Breaches China's Official Media Silence on Tiananmen". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  22. Branigan, Tania (2 April 2009). "China defies media cuts and closures with new newspaper launch". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  23. Hornby, Lucy (13 November 2016). "Battling for influence — Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief, Global Times". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  24. Zheping Huang (9 August 2016). "The Global Times, China's feisty state tabloid, relies on "foreign experts" to sell China to the world". Quartz. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  25. Kurlantzick, Joshua (19 March 2023), "The Soft Power Toolkit: Media and Information Coming Through the Front Door", Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China's Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World, Oxford University Press, pp. 137–180, doi:10.1093/oso/9780197515761.003.0006, ISBN 978-0-19-751576-1
  26. Cadell, Cate (31 December 2021). "China harvests masses of data on Western targets, documents show". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  27. Ni, Vincent (16 December 2021). "Outspoken editor of Chinese state tabloid Global Times retires". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  28. ""Patriotic" Voices? Comments from the Global Times Online Forum". China Digital Times. 4 May 2008. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  29. "Richard Burger on being a foreign editor at the Global Times". www.danwei.org. 8 May 2009. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  30. Fish, Eric (28 April 2017). "China's Angriest Newspaper Doesn't Speak for China". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  31. "Global Times: China's true voice or nationalistic rabble-rouser?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  32. Edney, K. (20 May 2014). The Globalization of Chinese Propaganda: International Power and Domestic Political Cohesion. Springer. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-137-38215-3.
  33. Chen, Frank (11 May 2020). "Rally cry for more Chinese nuclear warheads". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  34. Hamilton, Clive; Ohlberg, Mareike (3 September 2020). Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-78607-784-4. OCLC 1150166864.
  35. Baculinao, Eric; Frayer, Janis Mackey (20 February 2017). "China's Global Times: Hawkish by Decree or Reflecting Readers?". NBC News. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  36. "China warns Australia must 'cautiously behave' over South China Sea". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 August 2016. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  37. "China labels Australia 'offshore prison' in Olympic drugs row". ABC News. 8 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  38. Yuen, Chantal (6 June 2016). "Cosmetic giant cancels pro-democracy singer's concert after boycott threats". Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  39. Yeung, Raymond (5 June 2016). "Lancome scraps Hong Kong concert with Denise Ho: online backlash over move to distance itself from pro-democracy star". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  40. "Lancome cancels concert after Chinese online backlash". BBC News. 6 June 2016. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  41. "Denise Ho controversy: protesters march despite Lancome closing Hong Kong stores". South China Morning Post. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  42. MOLTER, VANESSA; DIRESTA, RENEE (8 June 2020). "Pandemics & propaganda: how Chinese state media creates and propagates CCP coronavirus narratives". Harvard Kennedy School. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. 1 (3). doi:10.37016/mr-2020-025. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  43. Molter, Vanessa; Webster, Graham (31 March 2020). "Virality Project (China): Coronavirus Conspiracy Claims". Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  44. "Chinese Again Float U.S. Biolab Conspiracy Theories". Polygraph.info. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  45. Stanway, David (26 November 2020). "With frozen food clampdown, China points overseas as source of coronavirus". Reuters. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  46. Dodds, Laurence (5 April 2020). "China floods Facebook with undeclared coronavirus propaganda ads blaming Trump". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  47. Broderick, Ryan (13 March 2020). "Chinese Diplomats Are Pushing Conspiracy Theories That The Coronavirus Didn't Originate In China". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 5 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  48. "Coronavirus cover-ups, disinformation, netizen pushback (April 2020)". China Media Bulletin. Freedom House. April 2020. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  49. Rosenberger, Laura (22 April 2020). "China's Coronavirus Information Offensive". Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  50. Hui, Mary (21 January 2021). "China's vaccine diplomacy has an aggressive anti-vax element". Quartz. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  51. Patranobis, Sutirtho (26 January 2021). "Covid-19: Chinese media float conspiracies, smear foreign vaccines". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  52. Zhang, Legu; Echols, William (1 April 2022). "Made by Moderna? China Spreads Yet Another Debunked COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory". Polygraph.info.
  53. "Foreign Media Insider Exposes Global Times's Managing Editor's Smearing Of Ai Weiwei". Apple Daily (in Chinese). 16 April 2011. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  54. Gallagher, Ryan (1 August 2019). "Twitter Helped Chinese Government Promote Disinformation on Repression of Uighurs". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  55. "China's social media troll army wages war on Uighurs". The Straits Times. 7 May 2019. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  56. "Official Chinese White Paper Claims Uyghurs, Xinjiang Have Long Been 'Inseparable Part of China'". Radio Free Asia. 23 July 2019. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  57. Mac, Ryan (20 August 2019). "Chinese Media Is Running Facebook Ads To Convince Westerners The Country's Detention Centers Aren't Human Rights Violations". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  58. Kao, Jeff; Zhong, Raymond; Mozur, Paul; Krolik, Aaron (23 June 2021). "How China Spreads Its Propaganda Version of Life for Uyghurs". ProPublica. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  59. Haime, Jordyn. "Chinese state-run site proposes 'final solution to the Taiwan question'". www.jpost.com. The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  60. Rising, David (11 March 2022). "China amplifies unsupported Russian claim of Ukraine biolabs". Associated Press. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  61. McCarthy, Simone (10 March 2022). "China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie". CNN. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  62. Hvistendahl, Mara; Kovalev, Alexey (30 December 2022). "Hacked Russian Files Reveal Propaganda Agreement With China". The Intercept. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  63. Carey, Alexis (7 April 2022). "Chinese state media's shocking claim after evidence of Russian torture revealed". news.com.au. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  64. Zhang, Legu (13 May 2022). "Russia, Then China, Distort Canadian Sniper's Ukraine War Tale". Polygraph.info.
  65. "新闻核查: 比利时大游行反对北约?环球时报造谣传谣?". Radio France Internationale. 23 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  66. "Brussels protest was about rising cost of living, not NATO". Associated Press. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  67. Pierson, David; Wang, Olivia (1 July 2023). "Wagner Uprising Highlights China's Risks With Russia". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  68. Wong, Edward (2 June 2020). "U.S. Designates Four More Chinese News Organizations as Foreign Missions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  69. Ruwitch, John; Kelemen, Michele (22 June 2020). "Trump Administration Labels 4 More Chinese News Outlets 'Foreign Missions'". NPR. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  70. "USCBC Statement on Recent Global Times Article". US-China Business Council. 27 February 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.