Despite investing billions of US dollars in “soft power” projects to improve its image abroad, China complains it is still getting a lot of bad press and is pointing the finger at foreign journalists.
Authorities routinely accuse China’s 900 foreign reporters — a record number, accredited to more than 400 media organizations — of covering China in a negative way. The journalists, meanwhile, complain of regular hindrance to their work.
The issue came to the fore at a forum last week in Beijing, where media representatives from China — which operates a vast censorship system over the press — and France gathered to try and iron out their differing views.
Photo: EPA
“It is not that China is against critical reporting,” said Wang Chen (王晨), minister in charge of the press office at the State Council, China’s Cabinet.
“What we don’t accept are double standards based on a Cold War mentality,” he told French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann, who had just highlighted the importance of journalists being allowed to report stories on the ground.
Foreign reporters in China are often blocked from going to breaking news spots, despite official regulations that allow them to travel freely and to interview anyone who gives their consent.
Earlier this month, for instance, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) — an illegal organization in the eyes of Chinese authorities — complained about working conditions for reporters in Tibetan-inhabited areas.
Journalists trying to get to areas hit by deadly unrest in Sichuan Province were repeatedly turned back by police, and authorities in those regions cut Web and telephone communications, making reporting on the issue near impossible.
On Thursday, the FCCC also issued a warning to journalists wanting to cover a revolt against local officials by villagers in eastern China after a Dutch reporter was beaten up by thugs who appeared to be plainclothes police.
Chinese authorities often complain to Western media of their “negative” coverage, pointing to too many stories on dissidents, protests, social unrest, pollution and not enough on China’s economic and cultural achievements.
These concerns surfaced at the forum, organized by the China Institute — a non-profit French organization created in 2009 that says it aims to foster better understanding of China — and by official Chinese partners.
“For the French media, China has become an autocratic country with strong economic growth,” Cui Hongjian (崔洪建) of the China Institute of International Studies said.
“We must provide more positive information to the public,” said Wang Fang (王芳), deputy head of the international section of the People’s Daily newspaper, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece.
Erik Izraelewicz, director of French newspaper Le Monde, said that a journalist “should not have to judge whether news is negative or positive, just whether there is any news.”
“Our mission is to inform,” he said.
The Chinese government is making efforts to push the nation’s various ministries, administrations and local authorities to be more open and better respond to the needs of the foreign press.
“We have a project to train officials to talk to the media,” Cui said.
Authorities in some sensitive areas of China, such as the Xinjiang region, which is regularly hit by ethnic unrest, have let foreign journalists in under strict surveillence — in stark contrast to Tibetan-inhabited areas.
These improvements come as China tries to better its image abroad — particularly since 2008, when riots in Tibet and a crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the Olympic Games badly dented what could have been a public relations victory.
Beijing is spending billions of dollars to extend the reach of its state media — such as the Xinhua news agency, CCTV television or the People’s Daily — and of its Confucius Institutes, designed to promote Chinese language and culture.
And while China’s 9,884 newspapers, 1,600 television channels and 2,000 radio stations operate under strict surveillance, some of the more liberal press and the hugely popular social media platforms push the limits of censorship day by day.
Large numbers of smart, young people graduate from journalism school in China every year and many speak fluent English.
“There are 900 journalism schools in China that train between 50,000 and 60,000 young journalists every year,” Zhou Qingan (周慶安) of Tsinghua University said.
However, foreign media organizations are not allowed to recruit them to work as reporters — a regulation that forum participants said should change, as they could help promote better understanding of their nation.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS