CDT ChinaCast is a podcast series of short and informal conversations with journalists, business people, artists and others doing interesting work in China. For the initial series, China Digital Times bloggers will interview foreign correspondents about their lives and work. The interviews do not aspire to find solutions to the many contradictions and challenges facing China in the 21st century – rather, we hope to offer a personal look at day-to-day life in one of the most complex and dynamic countries on earth. How do foreign reporters go about the business of covering China? What are some of the most unusual stories that have come out of the country in recent years? And what do expat journalists living in Beijing or Shanghai do for fun?
In the premiere interview in the Foreign Correspondents’ Series, CDT ChinaCast talks with Jonathan Watts, Beijing correspondent for the Guardian. Watts has covered China for three years, after a seven-year stint in Japan. He talks to ChinaCast about media restrictions, the differences between covering Japan and China, and how a 5,000-km road trip to China’s western hinterland radically changed his ideas about the country.
Listen to the interview here (.mp3).
– Read some of Jonathan Watts’ reporting, including coverage of his Western road trip.
