For the second time in as many months there was big trouble in an important allied country that sits on China's borders, with huge crowds demonstrating, bombs exploding, opposition leaders being arrested and demonstrators killed.
This time it was Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf had proclaimed special emergency powers. A few weeks earlier it had been Myanmar, where pro-democracy demonstrations were put down with deadly force.
But despite the proximity and important interests in play, most Chinese newspaper readers had to content themselves with dry, narrowly drawn and sometimes inaccurate accounts of the events. Absent from the foreign news coverage was independent reporting from the scene or any in-depth analysis that referred to China's strategic interests in the countries involved.
The contrast with domestic news coverage could not be more striking. Despite continuing censorship and restrictive government rules about ownership and registration of publications, Chinese news coverage at home is in the midst of something of a golden age. A large and growing variety of news sources and a new generation of journalists have steadily expanded the boundaries of the permissible.
Less than three decades ago, there were only a few dozen newspapers in the country, all of them state-run. In 2005, according to one survey, China had 2,000 or more newspapers, and 9,000 magazines, providing more and more coverage of events inside the country. But what Chinese readers are able to learn of events in the rest of the world from most mainstream media remains sharply limited in context and tightly controlled.
On Sept. 27, for example, a day after Burmese soldiers opened fire on unarmed demonstrators, both Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post and the Beijing Youth Daily ran a wire story from the official Xinhua news agency saying the "Myanmar government has been restrained in handling the monks' protest and didn't use force" to disperse the protesters.
Only a handful of China's conservative, state-run publications have permanent bureaus and correspondents in foreign countries. Even those publications that use freelance journalists overseas, or that occasionally send out reporters of their own, rely heavily on what foreign publications publish, and carefully avoid sensitive subjects.
The short list of Chinese media that maintain foreign bureaus includes Xinhua; the China News Agency; the official newspaper, People's Daily; the state television broadcaster CCTV and China Radio International. None of the publications that have made names for themselves with vigorous domestic reporting and investigative work make this list.
Asked why, editors pointed to a government rule requiring authorization to open bureaus or send reporters overseas. One editor said orders were sometimes received not to interview people overseas, and to avoid talking with representatives of the foreign media. An official at the State Council Information Office, a branch of the Cabinet, refused to confirm or deny the existence of such a rule.
News media critics say one result of this lack of vigorous independent reporting is that what most Chinese news consumers know of the world closely conforms with government policy and propaganda.
"By and large, China's international reporting is a mirror of China's diplomacy," said Yu Guoming (
No Chinese publications, for example, have explored the intricacies of China's deepening interests in Pakistan, including Beijing's supplying as much as 60 percent of the country's arms, according to some Pakistani estimates.
Nor have they examined in any depth the use of a Chinese-built deepwater port at Gwadar, which together with a similar project in Myanmar will facilitate Beijing's projection of naval power toward the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. The critical role China is widely believed to have played in helping Pakistan develop its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs is also rarely mentioned. In fact, when issues like these are raised, it is usually to dismiss them as malicious rumors.
Chinese news coverage of Pakistan typically depicts the US as the only foreign country that is a factor in Pakistan's affairs. This is in keeping with a general tendency to depict the US as a meddlesome power, in contrast with China, which frequently proclaims it does not interfere in the affairs of other countries, and sees to it that this line is scrupulously echoed in the news media.
"In its world coverage, the Chinese press often presents an `It's none of our business, let's watch the show' attitude," said Zhang Ping (
Tao Yong (陶永), a freelance Chinese journalist who broke ground with original reporting from Africa recently, said editors bring strong preconceived notions to each subject that are often insurmountable. Chief among them is showing China in a positive light.
"Take Darfur, for example," Tao said. "The first thing many Chinese media want to say is that China has nothing to do with Darfur. That's unrealistic. The truth is neither that China has no influence, as Chinese media say, or that its influence is as big as the foreign media describe."
In many ways, reporting about the US, which typically receives the closest coverage of any country here, is less rigidly ideological than in the past, when China still saw capitalism as antithetical to its socialist system. Still, subjects that are implicitly critical of US society are fair game for China's news media, whereas in many other countries, which China does not openly regard as rivals, topics that could be perceived as critical are generally avoided.
"For America, basically bad news is good news, meaning all important news can be covered without taboo," said Ma Ling (
"Compared to the US, Russia would be a place that requires more caution. Although China and Russia don't lack conflicts, China wants to solve those problems in an `appropriate' way, rather than letting the media amplify them," Ma said.
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