Report from The Guardian: The Sadness of Chinese Journalism

Jonathan Watts, a reporter from the UK newspaper ‘The Guardian’, published an article on May 14th examining Chinese journalism. He applied the example of a week’s papers to illustrate how Chinese newspapers are always filled with starchy and sterilised ingredients. In the article, Mr Watts also threw out the fact that Chinese journalists feel helpless with their work. He believes that it has become harder for the media to be fresh and original.

Jonathan Watts argues that filled with starchy, sterilised ingredients, state-owned newspapers (i.e. all the major publications in China) appear substantial, but all too often leave the reader feeling hungry for something fresher, spicier and more nutritious.

He applied the example of last week’s top story in mainland China to compare several of the countries' newspapers. The visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to Europe was covered almost identically by every newspaper in the country. There were subtle differences in the placing and size of the reports - the Beijing Youth Daily gave Mr Wen's trip big front-page treatment, whereas the Guangzhou Daily provided modest, inside-page coverage - but the content was the same. It was mostly dry, predictable fare about trade deals and cooperation agreements, with the only surprise being an apparently off-the-cuff remark by Mr Wen that China might consider a new law to pursue re-unification with Taiwan.

The reason for this lack of originality in Chinese Journalism was the fact that almost every publication used the same supplier: the Xinhua News Agency. Many newspapers cannot afford a network of foreign correspondents, but the problem in China is one of censorship rather than resources. While many papers have access to other international news sources, such as Reuters or the Associated Press, they are only permitted to use these newswires for certain stories.

Hence, the Beijing Youth Daily and the China Daily used foreign newswires for front-page reports this week on the Iraqi prisoner scandal, but no mainland publication would dream of using the same agencies for copy of the government's decision to block democratic reform in Hong Kong, or the questions raised by Tibetan activists during Mr Wen's visit to London.

The top domestic news this week has been a baby milk scandal that has led to the deaths of at least a dozen infants through malnutrition. The bogus milk products contained less than one-tenth of the required vitamins, minerals and protein. Several newspapers, including the Beijing Times, reported on the arrests of twenty four people accused of supplying the dangerously substandard product. To press home the message that the authorities were the solution rather than the problem, its focus was not on the companies and officials involved in the scandal, but on a public rally of concerned city leaders, law enforcement officers and representatives of commercial enterprises. Almost every paper carried lists of approved baby milk products and updates of the investigation.

Apart from this important story, the tastiest morsels on offer to a news-hungry public were politically correct reports on the economy, the Olympics and the government's claim to have made progress in human rights.

Concerns that China's economy may be growing too fast have been rising since the middle of last year. The Guangzhou Daily reported local government plans to curb investment and cool the markets for concrete, real-estate and shopping malls. Papers throughout the country expressed official hopes that falling prices for steel and rising prices for oil would act as a brake on the expansion in overheated sectors of the economy.

That doesn't appear to include the car industry, which continues to grow faster than new roads can be laid. Concerned that the appalling traffic could ruin the Olympic Games in 2008, the Beijing Youth Daily praised the authorities for planning "Olympic lanes" that will be kept open for vehicles related to the event.

But most of this domestic news is bland fare and many Chinese journalists privately admit they would like to report on more exciting events. There is a commercial incentive to do so because the media market is becoming more competitive. Even the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the communist party, realises there is a limit to the propaganda its readers can stomach. This week it announced that it will no longer run the dowdy regional promotion page, which was used by provincial officials to boost their self-image and extol the virtues of their local areas.

If anything, though, it appears to have become harder for the media to be fresh and original. The year began with the arrests of three journalists from the Southern Metropolitan Daily who exposed official cover-ups on Sars and police violence. Two were later jailed. The authorities have made it clear that they do not like reporters who slip in the occasional chilli pepper amongst the Xinhua stodge.