Beijing Newspeak

I have never worked for a foreign media organization in China so I’ll have to write this post in ignorance.

I can’t help but feel the brick kiln slavery scandal (Jeremiah at Jottings from the Granite Studio has some great stuff here and here) has been a missed opportunity for quality, in-depth reporting from the field by foreign media based in China. After all, it is the news story in China at the moment. 

Since the first story about the child slaves in Shanxi was uncovered (the story on how it was revealed is on ESWN - along with some must-read material - here) by Henan TV Metro Channel reporter Fu Zhenzhong, I have hardly seen any significant reporting by international media from Shanxi and Henan. Xinhua and China Daily are being relied upon to provide updates on arrests and the number of people being rescued. Fu Zhenzhong said that he had heard of 1,000 families looking for lost children. The latest figure from Xinhua is that 12 children have been discovered working as forced labourers in brick kilns in Shanxi. We know that these reports will only include a certain amount, and type, of information as dictated by this notice released by the CPC Central Office of External Communication which asked the media to place more emphasis on the “forceful measures” imposed by the central government to implement some form of justice.

As a result the story is gradually fizzling out when there is still a huge number of unanswered questions. Howard French of the New York Times said it himself:

SHANGHAI, June 20 — There is a certain ritualistic aspect to stories in China like the one this past week about the hundreds of people, many of them teenagers or even younger, who were forced to work under slavelike conditions in the brick kilns of Shanxi Province. First, Chinese readers are horrified by a picture of their country that many say they hardly recognize, then a villain is rounded up, and finally, after a torrent of unusually blunt and emotionally charged news reports and editorials, the matter drops from view, ensuring that the larger issue goes unresolved.

The villain in the case was Heng Tinghan, the manager of the brick works, who was arrested Saturday and promptly cemented his bad-guy image by protesting that it was a “fairly small thing” to beat and abuse underage workers, and to deprive them of pay. With his arrest, and the urging of the Central Office of External Communication of the Communist Party, the story then died away. But Chinese newspapers are constantly peppered with accounts of the death and injury of child laborers, and of disputes that arise because of unusually low wages, or the withholding of pay, with no region of the country exempted.

Commentaries from state media have been quoted by some international news sources with phrases like “in a rare strongly-worded commentary from …” etc. Some of these commentaries have limited importance. This one released in English by Xinhua was the opinion of one journalist in my department who wanted to express her disgust (which of course is a praiseworthy thing) and a couple of lines thrown in from me, the polisher, rather than a government opinion. I have never been a fan of Xinhua releasing commentaries - the nature of the agency as a political tool implies that an opinion piece originates from the Publicity Department rather than one journalist with a view.

I suspect there are several reasons why the bulk of the foreign media have not been covering the story from the scene of the scandal. Apparently, AFP wanted to send someone to cover it but were too short-staffed. I believe a few China correspondents may have been on a reporting trip to Taiwan when the incident came to light. Others probably thought they would spend hours travelling to Shanxi and Henan and get little out of it. The new regulations vaunted as increased freedom for reporting by foreign media in China do not seem to have changed the situation a great deal. Best to stay in Beijing and wear out the phone. Still, this would be an ideal chance to test those regulations out. If a foreign journalist meets with instant opposition then at least the world can learn the value of the regulations.

The true scale or impact of the incident can not be conveyed from Beijing or Shanghai. What is the effect on the local community? Have they heard of collusion between the police and brick kiln owners? What about the parents who haven’t been able to find their children? Have there been similar incidents, on a smaller scale, in the past? What do people living in Shanxi feel about the central government’s lack of control over local officials? It could go on …

Surely there is a lot to be said from being immersed in the emotionally charged aftermath rather than detached, on the other end of a telephone. In a recent post, I included a link to an article written by Jim Yardley of the New York Times about child abuse in Gansu back in 2005. This story was the only one about this incident and was filed from the village where the crimes were perpetrated, which is what sets it apart from the norm.

Maybe the fault lies with the foreign news desks around the world. They want the initial gory details and, as far as they are concerned, that’s that.