Posted on: Tuesday, May 20, 2003

ISLAND VOICES
It's not Chinese media's fault

By Li Shijia

The Chinese government's hiding of SARS patients and its slow reaction to the outbreak have almost become even bigger news than the disease itself.

The world's media have criticized the Chinese media for failing to expose the wrongdoing of their own government even though press freedom is still being suppressed in China. In this case, I think the Chinese media are only scapegoats.

Two months ago, China concluded its national congress meeting, which marked the transition to new leadership. The new leaders are younger, more educated and open-minded, but some senior officials still have rigid bureaucratic minds. They want to secure their current positions and privileges. When something goes wrong, the first thing that comes to their minds is how to cover it up rather than how to resolve it.

They worried that once the real numbers of SARS patients were revealed, they could not have stayed in their current positions, so they tried whatever they could to cover up the truth. The Chinese media became their tool since the media role is very weak. It has long been a victim of Chinese bureaucracy.

The new Chinese leadership took the rare step of sacking both the mayor of Beijing and the country's health minister. It's good that the government took responsibility for its inaction and deception, but it also demonstrates an important point: China is now so much a part of the world economy and information network that it can no longer operate in secret.

However, it is still impractical to expect China to achieve press freedom overnight. Press freedom cannot be achieved in China without further reform of China's social and political systems and without changing people's mindsets.

Fortunately, relevant reforms have already started in China. The government's loosening of control over its economy is resulting in less interference in the whole society. Thus, nonpolitical reporting, including economic, cultural and social news, is changing from the pure propaganda of the past to disseminating news today.

A survey showed that from 2000 to 2002, more than 40 percent of the social news released by the government's Xinhua News Agency was critical reporting. More and more coverage has been given to farmers, laid-off workers, low-paid people and minority groups.

Now, more and more criminal trials are open not only to reporters, but also to common people. Charges against Chinese party officials used to be secret, but now the relevant stories are easily found in every news medium.

Political reporting is the most difficult part to change in China. With economic reforms already achieving remarkable results, political reforms have to be at the top of the agenda along with reporting on them.

Infighting over SARS has already become a political issue in China. Beijing is trying its best to reverse its bad image in the country and around the world. The Health Ministry is publishing the true numbers of new patients every day. On April 27, the Beijing government began to report the numbers of people in quarantine and the location of the new patients.

The biggest change is that reporters have been encouraged to expose those who hide SARS information and mishandle this issue.

The Chinese government's open-minded attitude toward its own error has won the appreciation of its people and from around the world. Many of my friends believe the situation in Beijing will be get better as long as the government pays enough attention to it and keeps the people informed.

Dr. Christopher McNally, a China expert at the East-West Center, believes that the SARS episode will be a turning point for improving China's press freedom.

Fear results from ignorance. The media are the most important avenue to overcome ignorance. Chinese press freedom still has a long way to go, but the Chinese people's eagerness to be informed and the developing international communication will make press freedom inevitable in this oldest feudalistic country of the world.

Li Shijia, diplomatic reporter for China's Xinhua News Agency, recently completed the Parvin program at the University of Hawai'i, an eight-month program to train Chinese journalists.