Op-Ed Contributors

Deutsche Welle keeps censorship alive

By Chang Lu (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-12 08:00

Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) recently fired four editorial staff of Chinese origin working for the China-Redaktion der Deutsche Welle, for what it claims were financial reasons.

The company's decision has sparked shrill protest from the laid-off reporters, who say DW's refusal to renew their contracts is because the four represent a different voice from that of the ideologically oriented China-Redaktion der Deutsche Welle.

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The employment dispute reminds us of the Zhang Danhong incident. In 2008, Zhang Danhong, who was deputy editorial director of China-Redaktion der Deutsche Welle, criticized Germany's policy toward China during her interviews with the German media and called for more balanced reporting about China. She was later sidelined.

Thereafter, Deutsche Welle has been eagerly appeasing overseas Chinese dissidents. DW hired a disputed Sinologist based in Germany, whose job is to sniff out all reports with even the slightest hint of friendliness toward China.

This Sinologist strictly assesses all reports on a daily basis and highlights any China-friendly reports with a heart tag or thumb-down mark to show his disapproval. After two and a half years on his throne of censorship he has amassed venomous remarks on not only China-friendly reports but also the editors working at the China-Redaktion der Deutsche Welle and he even clamors for recognizing Taiwan as an "independent country".

What the Sinologist and DW have said and done underlines their hostility toward China and clearly deviates from Germany's persistent stance on the "one-China" principle.

For a long time, Deutsche Welle has been lambasting China and the Communist Party of China in its anti-China reporting, which, it claims, arises from the rigorous journalistic censorship imposed by the Chinese government.

This is absurd, as what DW has been up to in the past few years is the true example of journalistic censorship. As the laid-off reporters have said, there is perhaps no better phrase than journalistic censorship to define the DW's ideology.

Germany should have long relinquished the Cold War mentality and been free from such censorship. But some German media nowadays still cling to the Cold War mentality and ridiculously confuse Communist countries with Nazi Germany. Probably, their biased reporting results from either their ignorance of the world history of the Communist movement or their myopic attitude toward world trends.

As a media source of a democratic country that attaches great value to freedom of speech and journalistic freedom, Deutsche Welle dismissed Zhang Danhong for her positive and factual remarks on China's development prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. And now, four more Chinese staff have been laid off due to their objections to the company's journalistic censorship.

We simply cannot help wonder how much further such a news organization can go on its anti-China path.

The author is a Chinese scholar residing in Germany. The article first appeared in the Global Times.