Rampant fake news in mainland China the flip side of authorities’ tight media control
Zhang Xiaomao cites the lack of press freedom on the mainland as the cause
Zhang Xiaomao 31 May 2011
This month, a set of laws against false news reports on the mainland came into effect in Hainan province. Though the provisions are only local administrative ones, they are a sign that the Chinese government is finally doing something to get rid of so-called “pay-cheque journalism”.
Pay-cheque journalism is the opposite of cheque-book journalism, more common in the West, in which journalists pay people for desirable information.
Pay-cheque journalism is the opposite; subjects being interviewed are expected to pay the reporter or the media he or she represents, in cash or goods, to suppress a negative report or ensure that they are portrayed in a positive light when the article appears.
In China, the most notorious example of pay-cheque journalism was the cover-up of the coal mine disaster in July 2008, in which 35 people were killed in an explosion at the Lijiawa mine in Hebei province.
After more than a year of investigations, the State Council concluded that the disaster was a culpable incident that resulted from unlawfully mining national resources and that it was deliberately covered up.
In the end, 57 people were jailed, including nine reporters who took bribes to turn a blind eye to it. The silence of these journalists meant that the disaster was only made public 80 days after it occurred. Of note is a follow-up interview with a local unnamed county official who said: “The failure to hide the accident this time is exceptional; success in concealing incidents or scandals is usual, and it isn’t usually the coal mine owners who preside over the cover-up, but the local government.”
It is equally common for mainland journalists to try to extort money from their interview subjects by threatening to publish negative information. In January, CCTV reported how a prominent website intimidated major electronics goods manufacturers into paying money to avoid negative reports being posted online.
On the mainland, traditional publishing is a tightly controlled business; private businesses have to collaborate with state-owned publishers or act as agencies for government departments.
Television and the print media are a prime way for reporters or media companies to earn money through positive reports. In mainland cities, many such media firms have only a publication licence from Hong Kong.
With no licence from the mainland authorities, they run the risk of being closed down. In practice, however, as long as the publications avoid any criticism of the government and are not sold publicly on the mainland, their operations are fairly safe.
Of course, given such a set-up, the firms’ finances are basically quite weak: their bread and butter comes from payments from entrepreneurs and businesses in return for sycophantic accounts.
Only journalists who have been issued press cards by the General Administration of Press and Publication are allowed to interview people, and the state strictly controls this “privilege”. On the mainland, these press cards are the only way journalists can prove their bona fide credentials. Sometimes, they even determine the fate of reporters.
For instance, in January 2007, Lan Chengzhang, a journalist for China Trade News who did not have a press card, was beaten to death while allegedly trying to extort money from an illegal coal mine. CCTV reporters with no press cards had also been detained in the course of interviewing people on the unlawful demolition of buildings in Shenyang , the capital city of Liaoning province.
To a great degree, pay-cheque journalism on the mainland owes its existence to the government’s tight grip on the news and media workers: if the mainland had freedom of the press, in line with democracies around the world, the practice would be inconceivable.
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Rampant fake news in mainland China the flip side of authorities’ tight media control
Zhang Xiaomao cites the lack of press freedom on the mainland as the cause
Zhang Xiaomao
31 May 2011
This month, a set of laws against false news reports on the mainland came into effect in Hainan province. Though the provisions are only local administrative ones, they are a sign that the Chinese government is finally doing something to get rid of so-called “pay-cheque journalism”.
Pay-cheque journalism is the opposite of cheque-book journalism, more common in the West, in which journalists pay people for desirable information.
Pay-cheque journalism is the opposite; subjects being interviewed are expected to pay the reporter or the media he or she represents, in cash or goods, to suppress a negative report or ensure that they are portrayed in a positive light when the article appears.
In China, the most notorious example of pay-cheque journalism was the cover-up of the coal mine disaster in July 2008, in which 35 people were killed in an explosion at the Lijiawa mine in Hebei province.
After more than a year of investigations, the State Council concluded that the disaster was a culpable incident that resulted from unlawfully mining national resources and that it was deliberately covered up.
In the end, 57 people were jailed, including nine reporters who took bribes to turn a blind eye to it. The silence of these journalists meant that the disaster was only made public 80 days after it occurred. Of note is a follow-up interview with a local unnamed county official who said: “The failure to hide the accident this time is exceptional; success in concealing incidents or scandals is usual, and it isn’t usually the coal mine owners who preside over the cover-up, but the local government.”
It is equally common for mainland journalists to try to extort money from their interview subjects by threatening to publish negative information. In January, CCTV reported how a prominent website intimidated major electronics goods manufacturers into paying money to avoid negative reports being posted online.
On the mainland, traditional publishing is a tightly controlled business; private businesses have to collaborate with state-owned publishers or act as agencies for government departments.
Television and the print media are a prime way for reporters or media companies to earn money through positive reports. In mainland cities, many such media firms have only a publication licence from Hong Kong.
With no licence from the mainland authorities, they run the risk of being closed down. In practice, however, as long as the publications avoid any criticism of the government and are not sold publicly on the mainland, their operations are fairly safe.
Of course, given such a set-up, the firms’ finances are basically quite weak: their bread and butter comes from payments from entrepreneurs and businesses in return for sycophantic accounts.
Only journalists who have been issued press cards by the General Administration of Press and Publication are allowed to interview people, and the state strictly controls this “privilege”. On the mainland, these press cards are the only way journalists can prove their bona fide credentials. Sometimes, they even determine the fate of reporters.
For instance, in January 2007, Lan Chengzhang, a journalist for China Trade News who did not have a press card, was beaten to death while allegedly trying to extort money from an illegal coal mine. CCTV reporters with no press cards had also been detained in the course of interviewing people on the unlawful demolition of buildings in Shenyang , the capital city of Liaoning province.
To a great degree, pay-cheque journalism on the mainland owes its existence to the government’s tight grip on the news and media workers: if the mainland had freedom of the press, in line with democracies around the world, the practice would be inconceivable.
Thus, one way to lessen damage to Chinese society would be to loosen the reins on the news, and journalists.
Zhang Xiaomao is a scholar and chief editor at Dao Yi Media in Shenzhen
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