Opinion: China and the media: The thrill is gone
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China’s love affair with media openness in the wake of last month’s tragic earthquake seems to have come to an end — unsurprisingly, right around the time that the attention took on a negative hue:
The propaganda ministry and the State Council, China’s Cabinet, have issued directives to state-run news media outlining forbidden topics. Among them: questions about school construction, whether government rescue efforts lagged and whether Beijing knew in advance that the earthquake would happen but failed to warn people. Although the latter issue is scientifically questionable, it has nonetheless transfixed millions of Chinese Internet users.
A striking turnaround, given how China threw open its doors, both to media coverage and disaster aid. Of course, there’s a good explanation for that initial lapse in judgment:
...the tragedy that struck Monday, and has taken more than 12,000 lives, also has given China an opportunity for a dramatic image makeover. After months of relentless coverage of Tibetan clashes and human rights abuses, the earthquake shows a new China, one that is both compassionate and competent. ... The coverage strikes a delicate balance between eliciting sympathy and depicting China as a developed country. For the domestic audience, the Chinese media have given extensive coverage to messages of condolence and offers of assistance from President Bush and other world leaders.
But now, bloggers and bereaved parents alike are raising questions about corruption and shoddy school construction. Both, as NPR has pointed out, have been blamed on local governments — which, as Francis Fukuyama observed in an Op-Ed just weeks before the 7.9 temblor hit, operate appallingly free from Beijing’s control:
The central government, by all accounts, would like to crack down on these local government bodies but is unable to do so. It both lacks the capacity to do this and depends on local governments and the private sector to produce jobs and revenue.
Nonetheless, even though Chinese citizens have protested against their local governments, it’s the central government that’s panicking. And with some reason: In a country whose media have historically been tightly controlled, rumor, hearsay and flat-out tall tales become all the more potent:
With its grip secure on newspapers, television and the Internet, hearsay represents a major threat to the government’s control....Rumor has particular currency in Tibet because illiteracy is high, some say, especially in rural areas. ‘It’s just mouth to mouth,’ said Tseten Wangchuk with the Voice of America’s Tibetan service. ‘There’s an invisible bubble of language and trust. Once you’re inside, you hear all sorts of things.’These range from the plausible to the bizarre, including one a few years ago that a frog the size of a truck had frustrated Chinese engineers trying to build the world’s highest railway to Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.
Is it too late for China to put the lid back on? Some analysts seem to think so:
Ultimately, some analysts said, Beijing is fighting a losing battle in attempting to stifle the media, Web traffic and broader human rights. Reporters and editors in the last several weeks have gotten a taste of covering news under relatively free conditions. That will encourage many to push the limits.
Punditry aside, what do you think?
*Photo: Diego Azubel / EPA