Just minutes before Peter Rowe's Beyond the Red Wall was going to air last Tuesday, following some phone calls from the Chinese Embassy in Canada, CBC pulled the plug. Rowe, and many others who believe in Canada's national broadcasting company, were shocked and dismayed. It appeared to be a textbook case of bowing the ever-present Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressure tactics, but many never expected it from this network. Some, like conservative commentator Peter Worthington, were not surprised. The Canadian Association of Journalists was "disappointed" at CBC's apparent act of self-censorship. Thousands made calls, and wrote letters and faxes to CBC.

And in the end, democracy has apparently prevailed. CBC covered itself, saying it simply wanted to review the material (despite it having already been aired more than once, in low-viewership timeslots), and Rowe agreed to minor changes that he says will not hurt the documentary at all; his statement makes it clear that he has agreed to CBC's party line on the issue.

So, it looks like the slightly-modified documentary will now tentatively air on November 20 (According to Associated Press via International Herald Tribune) or November 22, according to The Toronto Star, and it has also received a nice amount of publicity ahead of time -- courtesy, ironically, of the CCP -- but more importantly, of course, of the thousands of concerned Canadian citizens that lent their voices to the cause.

As of the morning of November 10, Google News clocked 102 articles about the this Beyond the Red Wall saga. Even the CBC had its own, decently-done article. Well done team! However, we're still waiting for CBC to return the documentary's website to its proper form.

Let's see what happens. Please tune in on November 20, or 22. We'll keep you updated. Let's hope for no false starts this time.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10, 2007 at 6:07 p.m.. You can skip to the end and leave a response.