China Media Seen as Corrupt, But Experts Blame Communist Controls for Skewing System - Christopher Bodeen
Following the New York Times report yesterday, another look into corruption in the Chinese media:
Media extortion is relatively common in China’s mining industry, which is rife with illegal practices, but elsewhere press corruption is more subtle.
Reporters at news conferences are routinely offered envelopes of cash, ostensibly to cover travel costs but with the unspoken assumption they will write what the sponsor wishes to see.
Businesses also buy advertising to ensure positive coverage, often at the behest of reporters who are required by their employers to meet revenue quotas. Commissions on such contracts can more than double a reporter’s pay, which is often as low as $150 a month. [Full text]
POSTED COMMENTS: One Response
The current spate of stories in foreign media around the death of Lan Chengzhang uniformly blame media controls for the corruption among journalists. However analysts point to the shift from a subsidized to a market-driven press as the point where journalists were put in the awkward position of having to meet revenue quotas in order to retain their jobs. Therefore the problem is not media controls, but an unregulated media market. The solution is better media regulation and the separation of the advertising department from editorial, with salary guarantees for reporters, not further marketization, which will only make the problem worse. Party/State control of the media is a moot point here.