With the Beijing Olympics set to commence (NBC’s live coverage begins on February 3) there’s an opportunity for the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) to shine a spotlight on the ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs. China has been Accused of sentencing “hundreds of thousands” of the Uyghur minorities to prison terms and “forced” labor. There have also been accusations of torture and of women being sexually abused and “forcibly” sterilized.
So how have the networks covered these horrifying charges of China’s human rights violations of the Uyghurs? They’ve largely censored them.
MRC analysts analyzed China policies on broadcast morning and evening news programmes for a full year (January 31, 2021-January 31, 2022)It was discovered that nets are only able to hold a small amount of money. 13 minutes 38 secondsTo the continuing genocide.
They would have a different coverage of Uyghurs if there were actual Chi-Com Minders at their New York/Washington control room.
Keep in mind that these network news programs present Republican-backed voter identification laws as Jim Crow 2.0. However, they ignore the fact that there is an actual genocide taking place every day in China.
Most of the coverage came in “blink and you missed them” mentions. The most embarrassing was ABC, with just a mere $0 in advertising. 23 secondsThe humanitarian crisis. CBS wasn’t much better as they aired just 53 secondsThere were many mentions of the Uyghurs. NBC was the network with the highest coverage (742 seconds, 12 minutes and 22 seconds)
NBC was also the only broadcaster to show full Uyghur news reports. It aired three complete segments by Keir Simmons, a correspondent. In contrast, back in 2004 when there was a human rights story involving the American military (Abu Ghraib prison scandal) NBC’s evening and morning shows aired 58 stories from April 29, 2004 – May 11, 2004. That’s right, in a year’s time, NBC news aired just three full reports on the Uyghurs compared to 58 stories in less than two weeks of Abu Ghraib 2004 coverage.
Do the networks have been compromised? It seems so. Is NBC News too afraid to report on China abuses, in order not to lose their Beijing Olympic broadcast rights. Is ABC News terrified that if they offend Chinese Communist Party officials their parent company Disney won’t be allowed to show the latest Marvel superhero movie in Chinese theaters? Same question goes for CBS News. Are they part of Viacom? (which also holds Paramount) Be concerned About the Top Gun reboot being banned?
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE…SORT OF
ABC actually dedicated an entire hour to this subject. NightlineAugust 5, 2021 – The Uyghur Crisis. ABC correspondent Bob Woodruff reported on “a Turkic Muslim family’s journey to safety after facing persecution in China” and on how the “US clamps down on Chinese goods possibly made by Muslims in detention camps.” So that’s the good news. What’s the bad news? It was buried at 12:37am after an episode of ABC’sJimmy Kimmel Live!
ABC, CBS and NBC will have a chance to catch up in the next weeks. Perhaps ABC could air some of Woodruff’s reporting in-between their updates of how the U.S. bobsledding team is doing? NBC might allow Simmons to include more Uyghur abuse stories right after figure skating updates.
But based on how awful their coverage has been in the past year, you shouldn’t hold your breath.
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