The Journalism between Commercials

                                 Li Xiguang

   School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Among the four panelists here today, I am probably the only unseemly speaker from a country whose practice of journalism is not in accord with your accepted taste of free press.. If you expect too much from me in this discussion, ”that would show a lack of foresight on your part and a deliberate intention to remind me of my shortcomings”. I am quoting Mark Twain telling a New York conference 100 years ago.

Before I talk about Chinese press, I am going to mention Mark Twain again. In 1870, Mark Twain as a humble reporter came to New York and interviewed Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun. During the interview, Dana lectured the lowly newspaperman with the principles he has followed in making the Sun a success:

Never let your paper go to press without a sensation. If you have none, make one. Seize upon the prominent events of the day and clamor about them with a maniacal fury that shall compel attention. Vilify everything that is unpopular. ... Laud that which is popular--unless you fell sure that you can make it unpopular by attacking it. Libel every man that can be ruined by it. Libel every prominent man who dare not soil his hands with touching you in return But glorify all moneyed scum and give columns of worship unto the monuments they erect in honor of themselves, for moneyed men will not put up with abuse from small newspapers. [1]

The interview is punctuated by one of Dana's reporters barging in with a story idea:

"Mr. D., there is a report that Gen. Grant was drunk yesterday."
"Is there any truth in it?"
"No, sir."

"Then publish it by all means--say it is true--make a sensation of it--invent affidavits"

When the topic turns to obituary writing, the interview is again interrupted, this time with a report that Mark Twain has died. As Dana instructs about how to write the obit, Twain interjects that he is, in fact, not dead, but interviewing Mr. Dana at the moment.

The editor insists that nothing can be done about Twain's inconvenient persistence in life:

The obituary must be published. We are not responsible for your eccentricities; you could have been dead if you had chosen--nobody hindered you. The obituary is fair game.

But he will at least interview Twain in order to spice up the obituary: "Please to give me the details of any aggravated or unnatural crimes you have committed".

I am not in the position to say that there is continuing truth in Mark Twain critique about American press. But I do find a loud ring of truth in Chinese press today.

There is paradox in Chinese journalism. Most people in the West would believe that the Chinese press is a business of government propaganda. But empirical studies show that the Chinese press today is a business of business.

Despite the fact that the Chinese media landscape has been dominated by the labels of Party papers or state-owned media organizations, the Chinese news media is now divided up into two teams: red team—— the awkwardly - controlled bureaucracy press and the blue team —— the market-controlled popular press which is to get attention and make money by entertaining
people with sensational news and opinions. Most Chinese news media are eager to form a partnership with the businessmen, either the red team or blue team. All the teams are desperately in need for commercials for survival. Under the partnership between the press and the commercials, the news and views are merely the fillers for the space and time between commercials.

For example, in order to attract more readers and viewers, many Chinese media have changed news into talk shows, presenting opinions as news. The talk show programs loaded with strong opinions are very popular. From a business perspective, this is the best business model because the production cost is nothing comparing to the cost of one-hour news program. In China, the more famous a journalist is, the more he or she is likely to express opinions. If you want to become a famous journalist quickly, you should try your best to report news with strong and one-sided opinions.

Why today’s media prefer opinions to facts? Every person has his own viewpoint about any news event. He may be happy, angry, or sad. If a media presents opinions which are identical with the public sentiment and emotions, the media would win the hearts and minds of more audiences. In the end, it wins the support of advertisers.

Most Chinese newspapers capture readers’ attention by two ways. One is used by those entertainment newspapers for urban residents, which attract readers by sensational pictures and headlines of violence, bloody scenes, celebrity
scandals and movie stars. Another is used by the more serious business newspapers, which attract readers by well-planned editorials and commentaries written by their star commentators or column writers.

In the highly commercialized media environment, what media need is the public’s eyeballs. The way to stimulate the public’s attention is to make them angry. The short cut of making the public angry and getting their attention is to publish agitating editorials and commentaries. Media are using emotions to manipulate the public rather than keep faithful to factual reporting.

In China, news reporting has been used as a way to control the public’s emotions. If the public hate someone, the newspapers will publish opinions making the public hate him more. If the truth or facts may upset the public, media will not report the facts. The editors and producers understand that if your news report goes against the public sentiment, opinions and expectation, the public will feel unhappy with your media. The truth of news events does not always follow the public emotions. But if a journalist offends the public, he offends his editor, his bosses and their advertisers.

       As a result, the journalism in China sees itself more as a culture between commercials than as a role of providing accurate information to the public.

       What is the culture between commercials? Despite the high-sounding and empty slogans of being watch-dog and social conscience they clamored, many of them is not practicing real journalism, but journalism between commercials or you may call it pseudo journalism. In the journalism between commercials, the audience is regarded as something to be misinformed, misled
and manipulated. The news media read, sound and look like journalism. People are investing their time, attention and trust in something they believe are journalism. But they are not real journalism. For example, the brainless and superficial live satellite news connection is replacing thoughtful and in-depth reporting. The never-end broad array of talk shows by the star
commentators and the star opinion marketer are replacing well-thought, well-researched, balanced and diversified opinions. “These marketers of opinion are playing a nasty Halloween prank on the public, and indeed on journalism itself,”[2] as an American journalist said.

Mass media plays a central role in Chinese lives. Its importance is evident in the amount of time people spend watching TV, surfing the internet, listening to radio,  reading newspapers and thumbing text messages. People are increasingly looking at the world around them through the communications technologies rather than directly experienced or witnessed. It also means
that we are using the journalists’ eyes and minds looking at and judging the world instead of using our own eyes and minds.

But the increasing power of the media in shaping the public agenda is often not well appreciated by the media itself. The crucial issue is that most Chinese news media and journalists do not think they have a responsibility to report fair, balanced and accurate news and opinions to the public.

       Among the one million Chinese journalists working with some 2,000 newspapers, 9,000 magazines, 3,000 TV channels, 2,000 radios and one million websites, very few of them have received any training in journalism and journalistic ethics.

       Unlike entering the career of being a medical doctor or a lawyer, people do not have to pass an exam or get a license to become a journalist. The threshold for the career is so low that many people take up the job simply for a living. “If I do not find a proper job, I will become a journalist,” many university students talked about this solemn career this way. Most Chinese journalists are working against the time for getting sensational news stories in order to fill the space and time between commercials and make a living.

I know some of you are from the scientific and medical community, like my friends Mr. Ellis Rubinstein and his wife sitting in the audience, I am going to use the case of Chinese press coverage of public health issue to illustrate my point.

Most public health issues are not newsworthy. For example, hepatitis A and diabetes are not considered sensational in contrast with bird flu and SARS. Unless a scandal related to these diseases breaks out.

       As most Chinese journalists do not have any science or medical backgrounds, they get into the trade through a low threshold of scientific and medical knowledge, which means that it is easier for the