PRIDE

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PRIDE PREJUDICE English-Language Media
Coverage of China

• JMSC6027 Covering China
• Thomas Hon Wing Polin,
• Journalism and Media Studies Centre, HKU
• January 22, 2003

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Favorite Themes (1)

• CHINA IS A REPRESSIVE DICTATORSHIP
• For decades, a dominant theme in Western media
  coverage of China
• Government controls everything, totally
  intolerant of criticism opposition
• Obsession with this theme makes Western
  journalists slow to detect and report
  political-related liberalization in China

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Favorite Themes (2)

• Reality is freedoms have taken root and are
  accelerating to choose jobs, schools, travel
  and study abroad, court action against big
  corporations and government.
• Elections widespread in countryside and may
  spread upward
• Can say anything, so long as you dont publish
• Collective leadership, not one-man rule

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Favorite Themes (3)

• CHINA ABUSES HUMAN RIGHTS
• A sub-theme of repressive China. Every incident
  eagerly pounced upon and played up by Western
  media, as are actions and criticisms by rights
  activists worldwide
• Yes, Beijing still abusive of rights that the
  West cares most about high-end ones like
  political rights and freedom of expression

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Favorite Themes (4)

• But human rights are much broader. Poor,
  developing countries (incl. China) are
  understandably more concerned about more basic
  rights to food, adequate shelter, a livelihood.
• By these measures, the P.R.C. hasnt done too
  badly in recent decades

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Favorite Themes (5)

• CHINA MUST EMBRACE DEMOCRACY (AND NOW!)
• Western journalists assume Western-style
  democracy is best for all nations. All nations
  must aspire toward it
• Those that dont (like China) are frowned upon
  and readily criticized those that do are
  lionized (like Russia under Gorbachev)

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Favorite Themes (6)

• But reality is very few examples of non-Western
  countries successfully practicing democracy since
  post-WW2 independence
• Success requires some basics certain levels of
  education, material wealth, and a cultural
  tradition favorable to individual rights and
  democracy
• Very few non-Western societies have these
  attributes (e.g., Taiwan, Korea, Thailand)

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Favorite Themes (7)

• Not only must China embrace democracy it must do
  so NOW -- immediately!
• Even the U.S., founded explicitly to practice
  democracy, took over 150 years to evolve a mature
  democracy
• How can China, with baggage of millennia of
  authoritarian rule, be expected to achieve it in
  a couple of decades?
• Democracy will come, but it will take time. The
  spur will be internal factors, not outside
  pressure

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Favorite Themes (8)

• CHINESE LEADERS ARE ALWAYS ENGAGING IN POWER
  STRUGGLES
• Fact is, politics always marked by power
  struggles, over policies, over succession --
  whether in Washington, London or Beijing
• Only major difference is Chinas struggles are
  more opaque, because of its opaque system

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Favorite Themes (9)

• In English media, power struggle is applied
  only to China and other less developed, allegedly
  repressive nations, never the developed countries
• Latest example power struggle between Jiang
  Zemin and Hu Jintao

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Favorite Themes (10)

• CHINA WANTS TO BECOME LIKE THE WEST
• Western media love stories about China adopting
  Western forms and values Coke, McDonalds,
  Disneyland, Hollywood. Such stories get big play
• Deeper, more significant changes and developments
  that are particularly CHINESE are ignored or
  downplayed

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Favorite Themes (11)

• One reason is that Western journalists dont
  understand these developments, or think their
  home audiences wont be interested in them
• Also, perhaps psychologically comforting to
  believe that China wants to be like the West
• But duty of a journalist is to uncover and report
  accurately the reality, which is much more complex

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Favorite Themes (12)

• CHINA IS A THREAT
• To the U.S., to Asia and it also exports lots
  of weapons to dangerous folks
• Lots of reports about Chinas rapidly expanding
  military expenditure. Cold War thinking
• Reality is that China vastly weaker militarily
  than the U.S. Needs decades to catch up if ever

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Favorite Themes (13)

• Chinas military budget is a small fraction of
  Americas ditto its arms exports
• As for Asia, seasoned observers in the region
  agree that Beijing has in recent decades made
  great efforts to improve ties with its neighbors
  rather than threaten them. Especially since the
  1997-98 Asian financial crisis, China has been
  widely acknowledged as a powerful force for
  stability in Asia

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Favorite Themes (14)

• Even Chinas remarkable economic rise is often
  cast as a threat
• To the Western economies, an exporter of dreaded
  deflation
• To Asian economies, a rival that siphons off FDI
  and out-manufactures and out-exports all the
  regions manufacturers and exporters

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Favorite Themes (15)

• CHINA IS EVIL
• Pushed by rightwingers who dominate the Bush
  administration, alongside the Axis of Evil.
  Also by rightwing journalists and media in U.S.
• No country is inherently more evil or
  virtuous than another. It depends on your
  vantage point
• Journalists, more than anyone, should be aware of
  this, as their job is to balance various
  viewpoints and avoid slippery moral judgments

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Favorite Themes (16)

• CHINA WILL COLLAPSE
• If China is all these bad things, then surely it
  must fall apart at some point
• Western media long full of doom-and-gloom
  predictions and scenarios about Communist China
• Gordon Changs book, The Coming Collapse of
  China, is latest, high-profile example
• Corruption, unemployment, banking crisis

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Favorite Themes (17)

• Though some of the doom-and-gloom scenarios seem
  quite plausible, none of them have come true so
  far. (Chinas true disasters, like the Cultural
  Revolution and Great Leap Forward, were
  completely unforeseen by Western journalists.)
• Just keep that in mind the next time you come
  across a new prediction of disaster for China in
  the Western media

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Reasons (1)

• Why does Western media coverage of China suffer
  from these flaws?
• China is complex and changing quickly
• But two special reasons. One is the cultural
  background and baggage of the journalists. Though
  they usually try to be objective, they cant
  leave behind their personal values and biases.
• Traditional Chinese values are very different
  from Western values and often challenge the
  latter. Under such circumstances, Western
  journalists can become reflexively defensive

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Reasons (2)

• Another reason is ignorance
• Many Western journalists covering China lack
  knowledge of the country, its history and
  culture. No enough of them know the language
• Because of cultural and social alienation, they
  tend to stick together and get their information
  from Western/expat sources
• Those Chinese they talk to tend to be Westernized

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Prospects?

• Things are beginning to get better. Reasons
• Chinas rising status and influence makes it
  imperative for political and business leaders
  worldwide to have a more accurate, dispassionate
  understanding of the country
• International media have to respond by improving
  the quality, accuracy and sophistication of their
  China coverage

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Prospects (2)

• That leads to better-qualified journalists
  covering China
• Also, a new generation of Western journalists may
  be more open-minded about China
• Politically, China is now again a partner to
  the U.S. administration, rather than the
  competitor of not so long ago

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Parting Words

• My point in sharing all this is to help you
  become a more discriminating, critical and
  therefore effective reader of news about China
• Most people dont question the interpretations
  they encounter in the media, especially in the
  supposedly authoritative international media
• Being aware of some of their inherent flaws and
  biases will enable you to get more out of the
  news you consume about China