{ 2007 04 03 }

The “polisher’s aside” - minor victory or futile effort?

I have been vexed by this question for a while. The stories I enjoy editing most at Xinhua are the ones that revolve around quotes from officials that scream “BULLSHIT!” and are able to be proved as such (that last bit is a crucial add-on - I see a lot of bullshit).  When the opportunity to do a simple bit of detective work arises, I log on to the database, confirm my suspicions and then lavish attention on official comment that is contradictory and deserving of scorn. I slip in a smattering of my own comment - a whole line, an innocent adjective, an adverb loaded with negative connotations - pointing out, on Xinhua News Agency’s behalf, that a discrepancy might exist. Nothing special, just a snippet of analysis that is commonplace in news writing but often completely alien in my place of work.

I do this not out of mischief, a foreigner trying to fiddle with a tiny screw inside what is perceived to be a mighty propaganda machine. I do it because I want Xinhua to distance itself away from officials who should have no authority over it and produce a proper news story. I want Xinhua not to patronise its international readership and earn some credibility. Take this story from last week for example. The headline has been changed by the government portal site, China.org.cn, to an emphatic statement rather than a claim, its brashness magnified by the use of capital letters. “Drought Won’t Affect Power Generation In Three Gorges”. Actually, it appears to be a direct refutation of one of my earlier blog posts - I wish.

The “polisher’s asides” are obvious. Number one:

The Yangtze was at its lowest level last year since records began in 1877,” said Yuan, “but I believe it is unlikely there will be a significant drop in the inflow of water into the Three Gorges Reservoir from the upper reaches this year.

Therefore, power generation in the Three Gorges Area will not be affected,” he said.

Observers, however, expressed concern that Yuan fails to take consideration of the issue of climate change.

The Ministry of Water Resources Wang Shucheng said earlier this month that extreme and abnormal climatic phenomena like drought and floods have occurred more frequently due to global warming in recent years. 

More than 2.62 million people in southwest China’s Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality on the upstream of the Three Gorges have been suffering from drinking water shortages since late February.

This particular aside was toned down from some line I added about Yuan failing to provide any scientific evidence for his assertion. That is the reason, I would like to stress, for the erroneous grammar. I added a couple of paragraphs of drought background copied and pasted from the Xinhua database and decided the story was slightly more palatable.

Number two:

Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of China Three Gorges Project Corp., said the Three Gorges Reservoir had gained a storage capacity of 11 billion cubic meters of water after the water level retained in the reservoir was raised to 156 meters last October.

“With the reservoir’s newly gained storage capacity, we can regulate the use of water needed for power generation in an efficient way and make sure that electricity is produced evenly,” said Cao.

Cao’s comments appear to contradict those of Yuan Jie early in February when the Three Gorges Project Corporation told Xinhua that the water level in the reservoir was being lowered to feed the drought-ravaged river.

“The water level in the reservoir will fall by four meters from the current 155 meters,” he said.

After editing this story, I waited to see if it would be changed by the senior editor on its way to the wire. In a pathetic and deluded kind of way I felt a rush of triumph when this story was released. Even more so when it was reprinted in full by China.org.cn, which is subject to far narrower constraints than Xinhua. Officials heavily involved in the Chinese government’s darling project for the 21st Century being gently mocked on the government’s internet gateway. Nice.

But, when I really think about it, it is absurd. Rather than reflecting a shift in what Xinhua allows itself or is allowed to report, it just comes down to one British bloke in an office scouring the database like some sort of geeky vigilante. The reporter who wrote the story is not capable of analysis or informed comment. In this case, it is not because the reporter is not allowed to add his or her own asides. It is simply because translating almost word for word a confused and jumbled Chinese version is a far easier task than needing to apply some thought, which in turn is more conducive to meeting a story quota for the month.

I suppose the role of foreign editor can be regarded as a crucial part of the Xinhua news process. My current colleagues and myself do seem to have unprecedented authority in terms of editing and asking reporters to dig out more information. But is the “polisher’s aside” just a fraud? When we are long gone and our seats are filled by other native speakers who are more interested in switching onto auto pilot and changing some grammar, will all the stories just revert to being as bland as boiled tofu? This kind of content would never be added by anyone from the senior editorial ranks. Picking holes in officials’ quotes just isn’t in any Xinhua job descriptions. Maybe, if the Three Gorges story had gone to a different senior editor, the two asides would have been deleted entirely.

I will keep on doing it though. Just maybe, when the Xinhua database is littered with “polisher’s asides”, reporters will start to copy and paste them into their news stories. Maybe, the odd piece of sarcasm or beligerence will capture an editor’s imagination. More and more reporters and editors will jump on the bandwagon of snide one-liners. The craze will spread up the corridor until one day the diplomatic section says something like: “China and Sudan have signed a strategic partnership pledging to raise bilateral relations to a new level - despite international criticism that China is propping up a murderous regime….” Allow a polisher his dreams.

Posted by Chris O'Brien on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007, at 1:42 am, and filed under Confusion.

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