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March 28, 2007

Comments

davesgonechina

I think "ordering market competition" and urging "professional principles" would actually keep them very busy. Little red envelopes fall squarely into both categories.

Honestly, I have a bit of trouble imagining journalist associations doing any good when the U.S. is full of them and I just watched this clip from the Chris Matthews Show:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/03/26/matthews/index.html

A "media community" could just as easily be a chattering opinion-making class that appears to be adult-free.

Charlie

I think there is a greater change that has to happen before media ethics improve.

Zhao Ziyang famously showed his charges tapes of the British show Yes Minister in a bid to improve their understanding of the bureaucratic process and pick up a few tricks of the trade.

I think there are people in the propaganda departments now who could learn a thing or two from the West Wing - in particular how to strike the balance between managing the media and using them.

Only when the government starts thinking of how the media could help rather than hinder their agenda will the situation improve - and sadly it's going to take braver editorials than Chen Jibing's to start changing important minds.

Once the media's role changes, then maybe we can start hoping for improved ethics.

William

A great example of the "authority of the community" would be the Mafia. It doesn't have to be governmental to (a) have universal authority in its sector and (b) be utterly morally warped!

It's I think a mistake to try and single out one particular panacea for Chinese journalism. Professional associations can do their bit, as can a journalistic community built around respect, that in turn depends on honest and cutting-edge reporting. But it's not everything.

Other ingredients could be openness of the journalistic process, more demanding readers (perhaps a dianping.com for people to rate journalists?), a functioning legal environment, competition from HK / Taiwan media (which are far more heavily blocked online than English-language foreign media!), and I'm sure many more I haven't yet thought of.

Kaiser Kuo

@ William - Yeah, definitely no single panacea, no quick fixes. It's deeply systemic. Some good ideas you've got there, especially opening to increased HK/Taiwan media competition - unlikely as that is anytime soon. A dianping.com for journalists, though? I can already imagine the abuse that would invite.

pneumatic

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