Fake and corrupt journalism in China

John Hopkins brought forward a piece in Forbes late last month on Dark Journalism. This is where real and fake journalists demand bribes to prevent bad news from coming out.

Excerpt from the story:

What happened in that brief encounter that could make a fatal mine accident magically disappear? "Black journalism," according to our guide on the scene, a man known only as Old Zhao, a self-described businessman and journalist who arranged our meeting with the pair of reporters. Before going up to Director Li's office, the two younger men had huddled with Old Zhao, who then bluntly explained the reason FORBES couldn't go into the meeting. With a foreigner present, "it would be impossible for Li to pay them."

Now, things have improved in China but did anyone ever think this kind of corruption would end?

When I spoke to journalism classes in Shanghai 15 years ago I wanted to know what drove the students to be journalists. I asked the students to raise their hands if they agreed with any of the statements:

I want to be a journalist because:

1. I like to write and tell stories about real people
2. I want to find out what is going on and let the rest of the Chinese people know.
3. I want to find out what is going on before anyone else so I can profit from it.

I got a couple of hands up on #1 and a couple of hands up on #2 but a vast majority of the classes of 30-40 students came up on #3.

When Chinese companies have press conferences to announce a new product or plant opening the Chinese reporters get red envelopes with cash. Officially the journalists and companies say the money is to provide "transportation" money but the amounts are way more than the cost of a taxi or subway ride. And the money is not given to the Western reporters.

A Shanghai editor told me (15 years ago) that if a company does not give the money, no story or a negative story is done.

Many of the reporters I met in Shanghai had two jobs. They just wrote their stories from press releases and government dictates and then went on to what they considered their real jobs.

Granted things have changed in 15 years. There are more daring journalists in China but no one should be surprised that corruption in journalism in China is rare.

But this is surprising to many because the reporting from China and the rest of the world is so one-dimensional and so US oriented. There is damn little in process stories that help us better understand what is going on in other countries.