Questions from Media Watch regarding AustralianPlus.cn
Questions and answers
1.
Who has ultimate editorial control of AustraliaPlus.cn?
The Chief Executive Officer, ABC International.
2. During the past six months AustraliaPlus.cn has posted many ABC news stories
which focus on Chinese issues in Australia.
These include:
the 99-year leasing to China of the strategically important Port of Darwin;
the Robert Xie murder trial;
the imposition of a surcharge on foreign property buyers in Victoria
attacks on Chinese students in Melbourne;
Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to China;
The Australian government’s interim blocking of the Kidman land sale to a
Chinese consortium.
However, this year AustraliaPlus.cn has not translated or covered ABC stories
relating to topics the Chinese government considers politically sensitive.
These include:
the Panama Papers;
Australia’s submarine purchase;
Chinese cyber attacks on Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology;
the exhibition in Australia of the work of dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
Why were these stories not carried by AustraliaPlus.cn?
The .cn site is not intended to be a news website or to be presented as such. Its aim is to
provide a window to Australian life, stories, values and culture and to encourage
engagement between the two countries around topics including study and innovation, health,
style, business, English language, tourism, food and culture.
The stories identified by Media Watch above - published and not published - do not fit the
aims and intent of the Chinese service.
Australia Plus did carry all of these stories on the AustraliaPlus.com/International site,
where they can be translated into other languages via web browsers such as Google
Chrome and Baidu for Chinese.
3. Does the ABC’s agreement with Shanghai Media Group direct the ABC to remove
politically sensitive material when posting stories on the AustraliaPlus.cn?
No.
4. The ABC publishes Vietnamese, Burmese and Khmer language news
that is critical of those respective governments but the ABC does not
publish Chinese language news that is critical of the Chinese
government. Why?
These broadcast related services have different briefs to the China service.
The Burmese and Khmer sites reflect the Radio Australia service that carries
regular ABC News bulletins. The Vietnamese service includes a Facebook
and web presence that follows the Australia Plus content brief. The Chinese
portal is not intended to be a news site, but as outlined above, offers content
based on Australian life, values and culture.
ABC International is currently working on establishing a Mandarin language
version of the ABC News service just as we currently provide in other
languages.
5. Are ABC Editorial Policies applicable to AustraliaPlus.cn, specifically “Standard
1.3”: Ensure that editorial decisions are not improperly influenced by political,
sectional, commercial or personal interests.
Yes.
6. How many staff are employed by ABC AustraliaPlus (Shanghai) Cultural
Development Co., Ltd? How many are based in China and Australia?
The company provides the portal service but does not employ staff.
ABC staff or contractors provide the necessary support. There are usually four members in
the team, one of whom is based in China.
7. Can we see the English language versions of agreements between ABC and SMG
that relate to news coverage on AustraliaPlus.cn? If not, why not?
No. As you would expect, the agreement that the ABC has with SMG contains a standard
confidentiality provision and neither party can reveal details to third parties without the
consent of the other party.
ABC International can confirm that the agreement does not contain any provisions permitting
SMG to direct the ABC to remove or change politically sensitive material or news content
(although as we have noted above, the .cn site was not established to operate as a news
site).
The ABC retains full editorial control.
8.
Below are four examples which reveal politically sensitive material has been
edited from ABC news copy prior to it being posted on AustraliaPlus.cn. We’d like to
know why these paragraphs were removed and who removed them.
(a) This is how ABC China correspondent Bill Birtles covered Malcolm Turnbull’s
China visit on 15 April. AustraliaPlus.cn translated the story into simplified Chinese,
but deleted the following:
“...territorial disputes with the five other nations that make overlapping claims”;
“Recent international concerns about a tightening of the ruling Communist Party's
control over the country's courts may also come up in the meeting with President Xi,
with Mr Turnbull confirming he had raised human rights concerns in his meeting with
Mr Li, although he did not specify which issues.”
The Chinese version of the story says (in Chinese) “Edited: Teng Fang”
(b) ABC Defence Reporter Andrew Greene reported on 11 April that 60 members of
Australia’s Chinese community gathered in Sydney to “safeguard the sovereign rights
of China” in the South China Sea. Greene’s original story, in English, quoted an
alternative point of view from a South China Sea expert:
“’Forums of this nature that take an absolutist hyper-nationalistic line run the risk of
inflaming community tensions,’ Dr Thayer warned.”
The story included an interactive map of the competing claims of China, Vietnam,
Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The AustraliaPlus.cn Chinese version of this story, which was edited by Teng Fang,
excludes the map and the above quote.
(c) On 8 April 2016, Bill Birtles had a story on the Panama Papers and their link to a
member of President Xi Jinping’s family. Why was this story not reported
on AustraliaPlus.cn?
(d) On 29 Oct 2015, ABC Defence Reporter Andrew Greene reported “Royal
Australian Navy frigates will proceed with a long-planned training exercise with
Chinese sailors.” The AustraliaPlus.cn Chinese version of the story deleted the
2nd paragraph of Greene’s story:
“The United States this week deployed a guided missile destroyer near the Spratly
Islands as part of its challenge to China's territorial claims”
The stories Media Watch have highlighted are not consistent with the aim of
the AustraliaPlus.cn site. In keeping with the intent of the service these stories would only
have been published on the AustraliaPlus English language site, as indeed they were, in full.
ABC International’s processes for curation and publication of content from other parts of the
ABC include ensuring relevance, contextualisation, translation, editing for brevity, and
consideration of rights and technical constraints. Attribution to original reports and links to
the source articles are included. These processes of editing and contextualising must be
carried out in full compliance of the ABC’s Editorial Policies and should not include removal
of elements which change the original intent of the story.
ABC International acknowledges that we did not follow our standard practice for curating
ABC content in the items Media Watch has highlighted. ABC News staff in China are in no
way connected to this issue.
As a result ABC International is working closely with the ABC Editorial Director and ABC
People to ensure consistency of our content and to tighten editorial oversight. A review of
editorial processes and training is underway.
9.
Does AustraliaPlus.cn self-censor its content?
No. We acknowledge the examples presented by Media Watch identify failures in our
editorial processes. As noted, ABC International is working closely with the ABC Editorial
Director and ABC People to address these matters.