Medienspiegel.ch

NewsCorp-Boss Rupert Murdoch (via «PaidContent»):

«The Philistine [etwa: kulturlos] phase of the digital age is almost over. The aggregators and the plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content. But if we do not take advantage of the current movement toward paid-for content, it will be the content creators, the people in this hall, who will pay the ultimate price and the content kleptomaniacs will triumph.»

Und AP-Chef Tom Curley (via ap):

«Crowd-sourcing Web services such as Wikipedia, YouTube and Facebook have become preferred customer destinations for breaking news, displacing Web sites of traditional news publishers. [...] We content creators must quickly and decisively act to take back control of our content.»

Und wo haben die Herren Murdoch und Curley ihre von der Tonalität her schon fast an chinesische Propaganda erinnernden Erkenntnisse zum Besten gegeben? Richtig, auf dem World Media Summit in Peking, in der Grossen Halle des Volkes, am Rande des Tiananmen-Platzes.

Organisiert wurde der Summit, an dem u.a. auch hochrangige Vertreter von CNN, BBC, «New York Times» und «Süddeutsche Zeitung» teilnahmen (Teilnehmerliste, PDF), von der staatlichen Nachrichtenagentur Xinhua.

Als «Executive Chairman» des Events amtete Xinhua-Chef Li Congjun, seines Zeichens Mitglied des Zentralkommittees der KPCh und vormaliger stellvertretender Vorsitzender der Propagandaabteilung der Partei. Jener Li Congjun, der laut «China Media Project» in der diesjährigen Februar-Ausgabe des Magazins «Chinese Journalist» verlauten liess:

«Faced with new circumstances, new tasks and new demands, we must further strengthen our recognition of the hardships facing us, our responsibilities and our sense of mission, thoroughly applying the spirit of the 17th National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Party Committee, raising high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. With Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Three Represents as our guide, we must thoroughly implement the project of scientific development and thoroughly implement General Secretary Hu Jintao’s practical instructions on ideological work. [We must] uphold the principles of correct guidance of public opinion [Hervorhebung, M.H.] and the ‹Three Closenesses› ...»

Die «Co-Chairmen» des Summits vertraten übrigens so illustre Unternehmen wie NewsCorp (ja, Murdoch), AP (ja, Curley), Reuters, Turner Broadcasting (CNN), die BBC und ... Google!

Und da Chinesen schliesslich keine Unmenschen sind und es um die Medienbranche derzeit alles andere als gut bestellt ist, galt die Devise «(fast) all expenses paid»:

«As the WMS host, Xinhua News Agency will cover the cost of holding the summit in Beijing. The host will not charge any fee from participants. Participants should cover their own international flights in line with the international common practice while the host shows special hospitality by providing free food, lodging and local transportation for two participants of each organization in the city.)»

O tempora, o mores!

Übrigens: «Foreign media hail Hu Jintao' speech at World Media Summit»