Salvaggio, Eryk (2013) Was Nixon’s visit to China a harbinger for Chinese media policy? POLIS: journalism and society at the LSE (07 Nov 2013). Website.
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Abstract
In a telling scene from Mike Chinoy’s documentary, “Assignment China: The Week that Changed the World,” an oral history of Richard Nixon’s historic 1972 visit to the PRC, American Journalist Ted Koppel describes Nixon’s first view of Great Wall.Along the wall were families on blankets, listening to radios, snapping pictures, and doing all the things that you’d expect to see on a casual day out. The TV people got their pictures, Nixon saw the Great Wall (“I guess you’d have to conclude,” he commented, “That this is a great wall,”) and everyone seemed to ignore the curious fact of a leisurely crowd enjoying their day out despite cold temperatures that drove Walter Cronkite to wear electric socks. A suspicious Koppel hid behind trees until the press vans departed, and watched as Communist party vans pulled up behind them to sweep away the crowds and take back the cameras, radios, and tape recorders that they had handed out.When journalists complained about the barrage of staged media events, Nixon’s staff shrugged them off. “We’re in China,” they said, “We’ve got to do it the Chinese way.” But the upcoming 1972 election, and China’s desire to appear modern (it constructed a Western-style TV studio for the purpose of the visit) created a mutual sense of purpose between the two nations: Nixon and China’s interests aligned perfectly when it came to media management.
| Item Type: | Online resource (Website) |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/ |
| Additional Information: | © 2013 The Author(s) |
| Divisions: | LSE |
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States) J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting |
| Date Deposited: | 15 May 2017 14:08 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Sep 2023 19:07 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/77057 |
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