China in the media, 10
Ten years ago there was a conference on US-media coverage of China. It was hosted by American University’s School of Communication, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and National Committee on United States - China Relations. The conference encountered many of the issues apparent within the present day Canadian media coverage of China. Those who spoke on behalf of the Chinese at the conference indicated that Chinese officials were upset by the preponderance of negative stories in American media coverage of China. On the other hand, American media representatives suggested the American media was simply trying to present the whole China picture and covering those stories they feel are important and interesting for their audiences.
The increase in China coverage noted by the conference has continued over the past decade. As we witnessed in the Globe's coverage, the shortcomings of China coverage also remained over that decade. The conference indicated that " reporters' unfamiliarity with Chinese language, history, and culture; the bias of an ideological framework; excessive responsiveness to an agenda set either by Washington, D.C.-based editors or by the U.S. government; the effect of market forces and the resulting need for drama and pictures; and control of the U.S. mass media by the U.S. government or corporate elites" were all possible reasons for lackluster China coverage.
I would build on that list of potential biases by suggesting that China coverage is defined by China's categorization as an other to the Western self. Because China is so foreign to the average Canadian experience, including the experience of many journalists, coverage of stories relating to China cannot help but be influenced by this sense of the foreign. The next post will examine this issue in more detail.