Zen and the art of Chinese journalism

As part of an exchange programme with Massey University, Andrea O’Neil is currently on a three-month internship at The Shanghai Daily, supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation. She shares her early impressions of journalism in China.

I haven't at all fallen on my feet here work-wise, yet I haven't had much culture shock in general, which is the opposite of what I had expected. I thought reporting here would be easy, so I didn't arrange any interviews in Shanghai from New Zealand, which I now regret.

The paper has a very hands-off approach to its interns, the only direction I've been given is "connect with the expat community". I've had quite a few meetings with some interesting and influential New Zealanders here, but nothing leading to interviews or stories yet.

So up until the last couple days, I'd had to learn about Chinese journalism from the outside, from clues. For example, the staff on the paper is absolutely massive –  I'd estimate 40 reporters plus 20 editors – but the actual paper is about the size of The Wellingtonian (about 30 pages).  I'd say about half the content is from news agencies. I had read a lot before I arrived about journalists here not meeting people for interviews face-to-face, surfing the web a lot, conducting interviews on MSN and turning around press releases. It's hard to judge whether the journalists in my section are busy or not, or whether they're going out for jobs a lot; everyone seems to have a different work timetable.

But an observation about workers in general here – despite its 1.4 billion-strong population, I've heard China has almost full employment – which explains why there are so many people doing the most ridiculous jobs. I've seen people employed to make sure you're standing on the footpath before crossing the road. I've seen  seen a lot of receptionists, and even journalists, asleep at their desks. The boredom is immense, which must be hard for people to take after spending their childhood striving for good marks at school.

Anyway, I was sent to a nearby city, Hangzhou, for a reporting job, so I've got a bit more insight into how journalism works here, but I wouldn't say I'm less baffled. Seven international writers have been invited to Shanghai for a two-month residency programme, and they were sent on a short trip to the lake city of Hangzhou, to experience a more calm and picturesque version of China.

Hangzhou is very beautiful, sitting on the edge of the legendary West Lake and with lots of European-style architecture. Naturally, it's a top spot for wedding photo shoots.

The Shanghai Daily was a major sponsor of the trip, but I'm not sure that justified sending about 15 staff to Hangzhou and putting them up at a really nice hotel. There were about six of us journalists there, and at least as many marketing staff. At the main event of the trip, a short seminar featuring the residency writers and some Hangzhou writers, there were no less than 35 media staff covering what would be an extremely minor news event in New Zealand.

However, none of the journalists were taking notes, and only the TV crews were recording what was said onstage. In fact, a lot of the journalists were chatting or darting in and out during the seminar. The Shanghai Daily's report mostly relied on written translations of the writers' speeches, supplied at the event. This is not to disparage my colleague Minji's work – she's one of the most intelligent Chinese people I've met, but it's obviously the way they report news here.

It was really interesting being a Westerner in the Chinese media contingent. The international writers were unsure what they were supposed to be doing in Hangzhou, and just waited for orders about where to go next, which coach bus to board for a 150-metre trip down the road – and I could report that the journalists were just as baffled.

So basically, Hangzhou was a crash-course in the art of going with the flow and doing as you're told as a Chinese journalist. Next I'm being sent as a VIP to the Shanghai tennis masters quarterfinals – no reporting necessarily required, I've been told, just attend the banquets, sit in the corporate box and enjoy myself. Zen. Zen.

This article was excerpted from Andrea’s blog, The Lady from Wellington.

Images by Andrea O'Neil
1. The Shanghai Daily newsroom
2. International writers seminar in Hangzhou
3. Hangzhou's West Lake.