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China and Africa
Harmonious GoldkornPosted by Jeremy Goldkorn on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 3:23 PM
A few months ago, your correspondent answered some questions emailed to me by a journalism student for a research paper about Sino-African ties. I answered them briefly, and then thought nothing more of it. Then I saw yesterday's China Daily. There's an article titled China's loans to Africa are help not harm, which quotes me twice. The article was also republished by Xinhua. Aside from the oddity of a national newspaper cribbing content from a student project, my words were slightly minced by The China Daily, so for the record I would like to clarify what I said, excerpt by excerpt. 1.
Firstly, I could be described as a media and Internet entrepreneur, a blogger or as an old 油条 (youtiao — hardened adopted Beijinger), but I am not a reporter. Secondly, the quote was subtly reworked. This is the original question and my answer:
2.
That's an exact quote. But it is missing the sentence that originally concluded my answer:
This post is not intended to criticize anyone, least of all the student who asked me the questions. The questions I answered were submitted for a group project, and the final article as it appeared was edited by the China Daily's editors who probably were not aware of the source. Furthermore, I agree with the general tone of the published article. However, Chinese State-owned media organizations that want to tell China's story in English would do well to remember that presenting only one side of the story rings a very false note to people accustomed to Western media. Western media may be biased in its own ways, but the method of telling a news story uses the same structure that the ancient Greeks devised for rhetoric and arguments: thesis, antithesis, synthesis. In other words, tell a story from one point of view, explain the views of people who don't agree, and then draw a conclusion based on both sides of the argument. The conclusion of the China Daily article might be that China's actions are well-intentioned, but as long as the newspaper does not acknowledge that not everyone sees it that way, its stories will not be credible. My complete original responses to the student questions are below: Q: What is your biggest concern when it comes to the development of South Africa? Q: What do the average African people think is the reason for African's longstanding underdevelopment? Q: What is the common image of China in African people's mind? Do they consider China a friend? Q: Would they rather take loans from the World Bank, China or the West? Q: Do they think that China's investments in Africa are doing good to their countries? |
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Comments on Harmonious Goldkorn
I entirely agree with Mr Goldkorn. Reading his original responses provides a much more rounded picture of China-Africa ties than the article in the China Daily.
As a further example, the China Daily's news coverage following the 'Beijing Olympics one year countdown non-event' was similarly one sided, talking of how well the event went and how well planning for the Games is going. What we didn't hear about were the protests directly linked to the count down event with regard to Tibet and press freedom.
I like to have the facts at hand so I can make up my own mind about an issue. The manufactured reality churned out by the China Daily ensures that it continues to lack credibility. A plea to the China Daily: please one day allows your readers to make balanced judgements based on the facts.