{"id":10998,"date":"2022-02-20T18:39:25","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T18:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/american-self-censorship"},"modified":"2022-02-20T19:09:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T19:09:09","slug":"american-self-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship","title":{"rendered":"American Self-censorship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Before the Winter Olympics, Chinese officials cautioned athletes against speaking out about topics that cast them in a bad light. Then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told American athletes not to anger the Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n

It was the latest sign that China\u2019s campaign to stifle dissent is succeeding in an important way: U.S. institutions and businesses are increasingly silencing themselves to avoid angering the Chinese government.<\/p>\n

The professional wrestler and actor John Cena apologized, in Mandarin, last year for calling Taiwan a country. In 2019, a Houston Rockets executive apologized for tweeting support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong after Chinese officials complained, and a top video game publisher suspended an e-sports competitor who voiced support for the protests. The 2013 movie \u201cWorld War Z\u201d was rewritten to clarify that its zombie-spawning virus didn\u2019t originate in China.<\/p>\n

Erich Schwartzel, the author of \u201cRed Carpet,\u201d which is about China\u2019s relationship with Hollywood, told me that one number drives these decisions: 1.4 billion, China\u2019s population.American businesses and institutions want access to this enormous market. Given China\u2019s authoritarian leadership, that means playing by the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s rules \u2014 and, in particular, avoiding criticism of its human rights abuses. So cultural institutions that are influential bastions of American values like free expression are now frequently absent from public conversations about China.<\/p>\n

Compromising values<\/p>\n

U.S. sports and media have often showcased American values, even if clumsily or unfairly. These cultural exports helped spread democratic ideas internationally during the Cold War. Movies like \u201cMr. Smith Goes to Washington\u201d or \u201cSelma,\u201d which celebrate democracy, justice and equality, can change how people view the world and how it works. Celebrities can push people to vote or get vaccinated, or put a spotlight on neglected problems.<\/p>\n

Censorship prevents these institutions from shining a light on China as its leaders oppress dissidents, crack down on democracy in Hong Kong, round up and detain ethnic Uyghurs and threaten war with Taiwan.<\/p>\n

Asked about business in China in an interview with the Times Opinion writer Kara Swisher, the former Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger acknowledged the reality facing Hollywood: \u201cYou try in the process not to compromise what I\u2019ll call values. But there are compromises that companies have to make to be global.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent example of censorship appears in \u201cTop Gun: Maverick,\u201d set to premiere in U.S. theaters this year. In the original 1986 movie, Tom Cruise\u2019s character, the U.S. Navy aviator Pete Mitchell, wore a jacket with patches of the Taiwanese and Japanese flags. In the coming sequel, those flags are gone.As Schwartzel reported, Chinese investors told movie executives that the Taiwanese flag was a problem because China doesn\u2019t consider Taiwan independent. Playing it safe, the executives also removed the Japanese flag because of Japan\u2019s own historical tensions with China.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Chinese studios are getting better at making movies, and they\u2019re not afraid to take an anti-American stance. In 2017\u2019s popular \u201cWolf Warrior 2,\u201d the Chinese hero Leng Feng saves African villagers from an American mercenary called Big Daddy, who proclaims his people\u2019s supremacy moments before Leng triumphs and kills him.<\/p>\n

The consequences are asymmetrical. Chinese movies proudly showcase their country\u2019s values while American movies remain silent about China \u2014 skewing the messages people hear not just in the U.S. and China but across the globe.<\/p>\n

American movies can even give the impression that China is better. In the 2014 movie \u201cTransformers: Age of Extinction,\u201d U.S. officials were portrayed \u201cin unflattering tones,\u201d according to PEN America. The Chinese characters in the film, which was made with the Chinese government\u2019s support, were more often selfless and heroic. Variety called the movie \u201ca splendidly patriotic film, if you happen to be Chinese.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTransformers\u201d made more than $1 billion at the box office \u2014 $300 million of it from China. From a business perspective, it was a success.<\/p>\n

A growing problem<\/p>\n

The pull of censorship stands to grow as China\u2019s economy, and therefore the potential market for U.S. businesses, also grows.Some American lawmakers have tried to address the problem, but any change in U.S. policy would most likely have little effect. The same free-speech rights those politicians defend also make it hard for them to tell Hollywood, the N.B.A. or anyone else what to do.<\/p>\n

Another issue: The most striking and obvious examples of censorship have involved blatant interventions by Chinese officials. But U.S. businesses are more frequently doing what Yaqiu Wang at Human Rights Watch calls anticipatory self-censorship: \u201cBefore the idea of a movie is even conceived, the first thing they need to think is, \u2018How can I make sure that this movie can be shown in China?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That kind of self-censorship is harder to detect \u2014 or do anything about.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, American institutions may have to make their own choice: Reject censorship or maintain access to China. Right now, desire for access is winning.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Before the Winter Olympics, Chinese officials cautioned athletes against speaking out about topics that cast them in a bad light. Then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told American athletes not to anger the Chinese authorities. It was the latest sign that China\u2019s campaign to stifle dissent is succeeding in an important way: U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9],"tags":[2355,2361,4494,260,4798],"class_list":["post-10998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-american","tag-gambia","tag-self-censorship"],"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Self-censorship - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Before the Winter Olympics, Chinese officials cautioned athletes against speaking out about topics that cast them in a b ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American Self-censorship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before the Winter Olympics, Chinese officials cautioned athletes against speaking out about topics that cast them in a b ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-20T18:39:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-20T19:09:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/02\/img-621291a681f33.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"731\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"487\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"American Self-censorship\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-20T18:39:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-20T19:09:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship\"},\"wordCount\":837,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/02\/img-621291a681f33.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"American\",\"Gambia\",\"Self-censorship\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/american-self-censorship\",\"name\":\"American Self-censorship - 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