Over the last week world leaders gathered in New York City for the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The UNGA annual sessions are august gatherings where the head of state of every state presents his/her views about domestic and geo-politics, and what a leader addresses to the UNGA has huge importance for the future of global politics.
US President Donald Trump in his 37 minutes long speech at the UNGA, dedicated almost 4 minutes (8-12) to China.
He vehemently attacked China in a typical ‘Trump style’ and criticized it for “market barriers, heavy state subsidies, currency manipulation, product dumping, forced technology transfers, and the theft of intellectual property.” The four minutes on China was filled with condemnation of Chinese economic model, and its dismissal of ‘American Values’.
In his fiery UNGA speech, Trump warned China that its conduct in Hong Kong will “say a great deal about its role in the world in the future.”
“As we endeavor to stabilize our relationship, we’re also carefully monitoring the situation in Hong Kong. The world fully expects that the Chinese government will honor its binding treaty, made with the British and registered with the United Nations, in which China commits to protect Hong Kong’s freedom, legal system, and democratic ways of life,” he added.
The people of Hong Kong are protesting against Chinese government, as the oppressive Communist regime wants to extend its authoritarian regime to the Specially Administrated Region of Hong Kong, which has very different constitutional, social, political, and economic values. And Trump warned China against this ‘rule of might’ attitude.
However, such an important statement on China and Hong Kong did not receive widespread media coverage that it deserved. The left-liberal media establishment of the United States, which includes New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, and CNN focused on Trump’s statement on Iran rather than his ‘harsh criticism’ of China.
The people of Hong Kong stand for what is termed as ‘Global Liberal Values’ of parliamentary democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech. The American media establishment also claims to stand for the same values, but, it carried the blackout because the voice which was arguing for these values was Trump.
This exposes the hypocrisy of media establishment as for them- ‘eminence matters more than evidence’. If Trump stands for the global liberal values, the media will not support him.
Precedence
This is not the first time when the US President has faced a ‘media blackout’. Trump has got negative coverage from American media establishment since the day he announced his candidacy. In the live public debates, Trump completely outsmarted Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, however, the American left-liberal intelligentsia declared Hillary the ‘winner’ before the results were even declared.
The Trump team used means of direct communication like Facebook and Twitter to avoid what is termed as ‘moral door keeping’ in mainstream media. The mainstream media was a fiercer and more powerful opponent of Donald Trump, than Hillary Clinton.
Global Media on Trump’s UNGA speech
The Trump’s speech was also ignored by global media establishment- BBC, Financial Times, and The Economist which were more concerned about Greta Thunberg and her environmental activism rather than Trump’s statement on Hong Kong.
The media cum technology companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook also downplayed Trump’s 37 minute speech, in which he took on the global liberal order. The liberal bias of technology companies is well known. In fact, CEOs of many tech giants had to face testimony in the US Congress over shadow banning of right wing content.
The speech of other heads of state, whose countries do not have repute in global power structure, received more media coverage than that of Trump. The darlings of left-liberal establishment, which happens to support Islamism in the name of ending Islamophobia, gave widespread coverage to Islamic hardliners like Imran Khan, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Mahathir Bin Mohamad.
The governments of Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia decided to launch a global TV channel to counter what they call Islamophobia. And this made news on the front pages of the newspaper while the statement of Trump on the oppressive Chinese regime in Hong Kong was ignored by the media establishment.
Trump also criticized the preceding ‘bipartisan consensus’ in the United States that China would toe to ‘Global Liberal Order’, if given a chance. “In 2001, China was admitted to the World Trade Organization. Our leaders then argued that this decision would compel China to liberalize its economy and strengthen protections to provide things that were unacceptable to us, and for private property and for the rule of law. Two decades later, this theory has been tested and proven completely wrong,” said Trump.
President Trump has delivered on his promise to bring China on its knees. The ‘Trump Tariffs’ has broken the Chinese supply chain, and many western companies moved their factories to America and other countries, in order get immunity from tariffs. The Chinese economy is crumbling, and posted lowest growth in decades in last year.
The ‘blackout’ to Trump by American media establishment will destroy whatever credibility it has left. The rise of social media, which offers medium of direct communication, without the ‘moral door keeping’ prevalent in mainstream media has already shaken the foundations of mainstream media. If they continue the blackout, credibility deficit will accelerate and soon ‘mainstream media’ will be thrown out of market.
