Again, western media misleads the world on Hong Kong

Again, western media misleads the world on Hong Kong

ByTom Fowdy

October 30, 2024

A HIGHLY BIASED HEADLINE on CNN’s website, published Oct 5, reads: “Hong Kong Plans to Install Thousands of Surveillance Cameras. Critics Say it’s More Proof the City is Moving Closer to China”.

The article goes on to claim that the city’s Police Force has “set a target of installing 2,000 new surveillance cameras this year, and potentially more than that each subsequent year”, and to invoke techno-dystopian themes that such cameras contain “powerful facial recognition and artificial intelligence” capabilities, apparently “making the city more like China”.

This article is an excellent example of how omission of context and the selection of certain words can be used to twist facts and create a misleading, emotional picture.

SURVEILLANCE RATHER THAN SECURITY

First, we should note the decision to use the term “surveillance” rather than “security” here. If we take these terms at face value, “security” means to monitor a public place to prevent crime and identify any perpetrators if and when necessary.

In theory, the word “surveillance” actually means the same thing — one online definition is the “close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal” — but the emotional baggage attached to the word carries a different connotation because it conjures up the idea of intrusive authorities spying on a population in a manner that seems sinister or abusive.

It is little surprise when you recognize that CNN chooses this word “surveillance” in order to depict the Hong Kong authorities in this light. It forms part of a broader campaign in the mainstream media to depict the city as a “dystopia” amid its national security legislation and to frame life there as fundamentally oppressive and authoritarian.

Thus, elements of public order or security are repeatedly depicted as overtly oppressive and not justified, with their implications on society or innocent people often vastly exaggerated. Hence, there is always the narrative being pushed that if you visit Hong Kong, you are going to be “arbitrarily detained” or “arrested for no reason” at all.

The invocation of such fear using emotive language and assumptions is intentional. We also see this manifest in the photos and pictures selected for China-related articles, with many Western mainstream media pieces actively choosing an image of a surveillance camera next to a Chinese flag in their news stories. This feeds into a broader discourse of paranoia pertaining to Chinese technology and spying at large.

CHINA AS ‘TECHNO-DYSTOPIA’

This discourse also depicts the use of artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology for the same negative purposes. In Western mainstream media coverage, China is frequently depicted as a “techno-dystopia” where, through AI and facial recognition, the authorities monitor and see everything; this may provoke thoughts in a Westerner’s imagination of a dark, futuristic world or a “Big Brother” system, and purposely sets up a contrast with the West, where it is falsely assumed that civil liberties and privacy are respected by authorities that do not use such capabilities. This is in fact completely wrong. The use of AI and facial recognition in camera systems is not exclusive to China, and has spread rapidly throughout the Western world.


It is little surprise when you recognize that CNN chooses this word “surveillance” in order to depict the Hong Kong authorities in this light. It forms part of a broader campaign in the mainstream media to depict the city as a “dystopia” amid its national security legislation and to frame life there as fundamentally oppressive and authoritarian

Just last week, when I was about to depart from the United States at Los Angeles International Airport, I had to undergo a facial recognition test to identify myself to airport security.

This information was given to the US government under the Department of Homeland Security, and it was not just for exit and entry purposes; such a process is increasingly ubiquitous throughout America.

Just one quick Google search finds the headline: “Will Colorado Schools Start Using AI Surveillance Cameras With Facial Recognition? Some Already Are.”

SURVEILLANCE STATE

Those who are already familiar with Western mainstream-media discourse will be aware of how the idea of security cameras at Chinese schools or educational institutions is presented; the concept of “security” is warped into fearmongering about an “all-embracing surveillance state”. Thus, as we see in Hong Kong, even setting up security cameras is seen as sinister.

Yet again, the preference for narratives supersedes facts. Take for example, London. The British capital has the third-highest number of security or closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras per capita in the world, with 73 cameras for every 1,000 inhabitants, and the total number of cameras — public and private — amounting to over 690,000.

This also of course includes AI cameras too, as the London Evening Standard reported in an article headlined: AI Cameras Used at London Stations to Detect Passengers’ Emotions Without Them Knowing.

But again, we do not see the techno-dystopian narrative or accusations of “surveillance” we get thrown at Hong Kong. Authorities will say that such cameras in London are needed to tackle crime and ensure public order, but why is that right frowned upon when it comes to Hong Kong?

They will of course claim the purpose is “political oppression”, but fail to appreciate the fact that the conduct of the “black-clad rioters” in 2019-20, which involved widespread violence, disorder and destruction of public and private property, was criminal, and posed a fundamental threat to the security of the city. That is never acknowledged.

RANDOM OPPRESSION

The Western media narrative frequently seeks to eradicate the context that anything bad has ever happened in Hong Kong throughout this period and promotes the notion that the authorities are randomly “oppressing” people for no reason at all. Thus, we hear scare stories about the city’s authorities acquiring cameras for no apparent reason but to spy on others. Therefore, we see how media coverage through the utilization of emotionally inclined words, omission of context, and negation of facts can completely misrepresent what is going on in the city, even as authorities the world over do the same thing.

Tom Fowdy is a British political and international-relations analyst.