Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A848-W542

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A848-W542

Release Date: November 2, 2014

发布日：2014年11月2日

Topic: Speech at the Board Meeting of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：在美国广播理事会董事会的会议上的发言 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

Note: Please use "Simplified Chinese (GB2312)" encoding to view the Chinese parts of this release. If this mail does not display properly in your email program, please send your request for special delivery to us or visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2014/report2014-11/WeiJSspeech141102BBGboardmeetingA848-W542.htm　which contains identical information.

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Speech at the Board Meeting of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)

-- Wei Jingsheng, October 30, 2014

Thanks to the two gentlemen who spoke just before me. They spoke a lot of what I want to say.

In 1994, then Senator John Kerry (note: currently, Secretary of State John Kerry is one of the board members of BBG) had a meeting with me in Beijing on behalf of then President Clinton and discussed the issue of whether or not to establish Radio Free Asia. That was the first time I heard your basic principle of "complementary freedom of expression" ("to these listeners who lack regular access to full and balanced reporting in their domestic media"). I just heard the board chair also talk about this.

But I have been in the United States for more than a decade. What I heard more about from the staff was the "balance of speech." What they meant was that we have to give the Communist regime in China the opportunity to speak. This "balance" is in line with what I have learned from the audiences of both Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) as well. Over the years, they have heard more and more argument and language of the Communist Party from these stations. Both VOA and RFA gave more and more propaganda opportunities to the people from the Chinese Communist Party, even inviting the heads and researchers of the Communist intelligence agencies to their stations to speak. This is the reason that over the years, the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have lost a lot of audience. The listeners have heard too much Communist propaganda -- they do not want to hear more Communist propaganda, they want to hear something that the Communist Party does not say.

So I think the principle of "complementary freedom of expression" is very important. But this principle was not insisted on during the work. On one side, it was because some leaders do not understand the broadcasting in Chinese language; there were some incorrect ideas in their minds. Another important reason is due to staff. Some staff members are not standing on the side of democracy and freedom, but are rather more sympathetic toward the Communist Party. This is not my personal opinion, but the opinion of many listeners. They criticized me for not helping these two stations to make them welcome by the audience.

I think a very important issue is that you BBG lacks an independent oversight body to supervise. What is the reaction of the audience? What are the criticisms of the stations or some anchors? These evaluations have all been monitored by the stations themselves. If only self-monitored, then that is the same as the self-monitoring of the Communist Party, which is not a true oversight. I think an oversight body is very important -- there is a need to have a relatively independent and objective oversight body.

Another issue I want to emphasize is that shortwave radio programs should not be cut, but should be strengthened. Although China has more than 200 million Internet users, that accounts for less than one fifth of China's population. The poor majority of the population can only listen to the radio, and they like to listen to the radio. If there is no shortwave radio, I think both Voice of America and Radio Free Asia would not have that many in audience. Thank you.

Related video of Wei Jingsheng's speech:

http://youtu.be/q5_wqth4aG4 or

http://youtu.be/mFI564oBhhw

which came from the video of BBG board meeting:

http://www.bbg.gov/blog/2013/10/24/board-meeting-october-30-2014/

Related photos of the BBG board meeting on October 30, 2014:

1. Wei Jingsheng at BBG board meeting:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2014/newsletters2014-8/WeiJSattends141030BBGboardmeeting-c-6.jpg

2. Audience of the BBG meeting:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2014/newsletters2014-8/NoonanAspeaking141030BBGboard-c-6.jpg

3. Ann Noonan, Executive Director of the Committee for International Broadcasting, speaking:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2014/newsletters2014-8/BBGboard141030audience-c-6.jpg

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A848-W542

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号： A848-W542

Release Date: November 2, 2014

发布日：2014年11月2日

Topic: Speech at the Board Meeting of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：在美国广播理事会董事会的会议上的发言 -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2014/report2014-11/WeiJSspeech141102BBGboardmeetingA848-W542.htm

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在美国广播理事会董事会的会议上的发言

-- 魏京生，2014年10月30日

谢谢刚才两位的发言，他们讲出了很多我想说的话。

1994年，约翰﹒克里参议员（现任国务卿约翰﹒克里为美国广播理事会董事之一）代表克林顿总统到北京去见我，讨论要不要建立自由亚洲电台的问题。那是我第一次听说，你们的基本原则是“言论自由的补充”。刚才我听主席先生也提到了这点。

但是我在美国十几年来，听到具体工作人员谈论的更多的是“言论的平衡”。他们的意思就是说，我们还要给共产党一定的发言的机会。美国之音和自由亚洲电台的听众们向我反映的意见也是，这些年来，他们听到了更多的共产党的说法和语言。美国之音和自由亚洲电台给了共产党的人更多的宣传机会，甚至共产党情报机关的头头和研究人员也被请到电台来发言。这么多年来，美国之音和自由亚洲电台之所以丢掉了很多听众，原因就在这儿。这些听众认为共产党的宣传已经非常多了；他们不想听共产党的宣传，他们想听那些共产党不说的东西。

所以我觉得“言论自由的补充”这个原则非常重要，但是在工作中他们没有坚持这个原则。一方面因为一些领导者听不懂中文的广播，无法分辨好坏；他们的头脑中有一些不正确的观念。还有一个重要的原因是工作人员的问题。有些工作人员并不是站在民主自由的立场上，而是比较同情共产党。这不是我个人的意见，而是许多听众的意见。他们指责我没有帮助这两个电台，使他们能够受到听众的欢迎。

我觉得很重要的问题，是你们广播委员会缺少一个独立的监督的机构。听众有什么反应；对电台或者某些播音员有什么批评，这些都是他们自己在监督。如果仅仅是自我监督，那和共产党的监督就是一样的了，不是真正的监督。我觉得监督机构非常重要，需要有一个相对独立的、客观的监督机构。

另外我要强调的一个问题是；电台短波广播节目不应消减，而应加强。中国虽然有两亿多电脑用户，但在中国人口中只占不到五分之一。占人口大多数的穷人只能听电台的广播，而且他们喜欢听广播。如果没有广播，我觉得美国之音和自由亚洲就不会有那么多的听众。谢谢大家。