#FakeNews #Disinformation
China Tampers With #WHO Video, Removes a Crucial "If", and Falsely Claims Vaccine Success
China's state-run CCTV News posted a video on Sept 24, 2020 to their Chinese-language Facebook page, claiming that WHO had stated that China's COVID-19 vaccine had "proved to be successful" in current clinical trials.
The video was reposted by a number of pro-Beijing Facebook pages, with captions such as "WHO Top Scientist: New Chinese COVID Vaccine Proven to be Effective", "China is Great 👍 For the Good of the World".
However, Factcheck Lab compared the video disseminated by China with the actual proceedings of WHO's press conference, and found that CCTV had cut the statement out of context, carefully removing a paronwith a crucial "if". Moreover, stock footage is played over the resulting audio clip, carefully concealing the distortion of facts upon the edits made by the China-owned news organization.
In the CCTV video [1], the quote from WHO Chief Scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, was modified to apparently claim that China had already created a successful vaccine:
"... very active vaccine development programme and several of their vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of clinical trial so this is also of interest to us so we're following those very closely. Some of their candidates actually proved to be successful in the clinical trials that are going on"
The full quote of Dr. Swaminathan is preserved in the conference transcripts [2] and video [3] of the Sept 21 press conference. The parts edited out by CCTV makes it sound that the above italicized quote was not meant to be an assertive statement on its own:
"We've been engaged in discussions with China for the last several months because, as you know, they also have a very active vaccine development programme and several of their vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of clinical trial so this is also of interest to us so we're following those very closely. <b>We've had very constructive and open discussions with them and they have always been reiterating their commitment to global access if some of their candidates actually prove to be successful in the clinical trials that are going on."
Taken in its entirety, it is clear that Dr Swaminathan's statement was only acknowledging China's promise to share any vaccines that they might develop.
In other words, the edited CCTV video, as well as the reposts made by pro-Beijing pages, had deliberately modified the scientist's statement to make false claims of China's success, and is clearly an intentional attempt to mislead the public.
NOTES:
[1] CCTV News video:
https://www.facebook.com/761870613900500/posts/3972027886218074
[2] Transcript of WHO COVID-19 Virtual Press Conference, 21 September 2020:
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/transcripts/joint-covid-19-virtual-press-conference---21-september.pdf#page=16
[3] Video of press conference, beginning at Dr. Swaminathan's statement (0:42:44):
https://youtu.be/ia8DElK7SE4?t=2564
Source: FactCheck Lab, Hong Kong #30Sept2020 https://www.factchecklab.org/20200930/
#WuhanPneumonia #CoronavirusPandemic #Covid19Vaccine
#CCPLies #CCTV
=======
[Editor's Note:
As the WHO represents the world's concerted effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, such misleading reports only serves to undermine the organization's credibility and international cooperation. It is all the more despicable that it would come from a state-run media such as China's CCTV; such falsehood is an affront to any journalist's commitment to the pursuit of the truth, and ought to be widely condemned.]
The false video was first reported by Factcheck Lab on Sept 30, 2020.
Their original report in Chinese is attached as follows:
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
China Tampers With #WHO Video, Removes a Crucial "If", and Falsely Claims Vaccine Success
China's state-run CCTV News posted a video on Sept 24, 2020 to their Chinese-language Facebook page, claiming that WHO had stated that China's COVID-19 vaccine had "proved to be successful" in current clinical trials.
The video was reposted by a number of pro-Beijing Facebook pages, with captions such as "WHO Top Scientist: New Chinese COVID Vaccine Proven to be Effective", "China is Great 👍 For the Good of the World".
However, Factcheck Lab compared the video disseminated by China with the actual proceedings of WHO's press conference, and found that CCTV had cut the statement out of context, carefully removing a paronwith a crucial "if". Moreover, stock footage is played over the resulting audio clip, carefully concealing the distortion of facts upon the edits made by the China-owned news organization.
In the CCTV video [1], the quote from WHO Chief Scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, was modified to apparently claim that China had already created a successful vaccine:
"... very active vaccine development programme and several of their vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of clinical trial so this is also of interest to us so we're following those very closely. Some of their candidates actually proved to be successful in the clinical trials that are going on"
The full quote of Dr. Swaminathan is preserved in the conference transcripts [2] and video [3] of the Sept 21 press conference. The parts edited out by CCTV makes it sound that the above italicized quote was not meant to be an assertive statement on its own:
"We've been engaged in discussions with China for the last several months because, as you know, they also have a very active vaccine development programme and several of their vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of clinical trial so this is also of interest to us so we're following those very closely. <b>We've had very constructive and open discussions with them and they have always been reiterating their commitment to global access if some of their candidates actually prove to be successful in the clinical trials that are going on."
Taken in its entirety, it is clear that Dr Swaminathan's statement was only acknowledging China's promise to share any vaccines that they might develop.
In other words, the edited CCTV video, as well as the reposts made by pro-Beijing pages, had deliberately modified the scientist's statement to make false claims of China's success, and is clearly an intentional attempt to mislead the public.
NOTES:
[1] CCTV News video:
https://www.facebook.com/761870613900500/posts/3972027886218074
[2] Transcript of WHO COVID-19 Virtual Press Conference, 21 September 2020:
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/transcripts/joint-covid-19-virtual-press-conference---21-september.pdf#page=16
[3] Video of press conference, beginning at Dr. Swaminathan's statement (0:42:44):
https://youtu.be/ia8DElK7SE4?t=2564
Source: FactCheck Lab, Hong Kong #30Sept2020 https://www.factchecklab.org/20200930/
#WuhanPneumonia #CoronavirusPandemic #Covid19Vaccine
#CCPLies #CCTV
=======
[Editor's Note:
As the WHO represents the world's concerted effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, such misleading reports only serves to undermine the organization's credibility and international cooperation. It is all the more despicable that it would come from a state-run media such as China's CCTV; such falsehood is an affront to any journalist's commitment to the pursuit of the truth, and ought to be widely condemned.]
The false video was first reported by Factcheck Lab on Sept 30, 2020.
Their original report in Chinese is attached as follows:
⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
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