Working as a journalist in China’s newspapers can be an eye-opening and engaging experience, revealing unsuspected potential and unforeseen possibilities. Such work, more often than not, is with the state media. To make the most of the situation, it is necessary to leave behind a lifetime’s preconceptions and prejudices. For all the media restrictions in China, there remain unexplored possibilities and spaces. The boundaries can be pushed a bit further, and tested. You never know how far you can go unless you try.
My life as an expatriate journalist in Beijing began with China Daily-the country’s first and oldest English daily. It is the official, government newspaper published by the State Council Information Office of China (SCIO), a department of the Information Ministry. The editor-in-chief (EiC) is said to enjoy the rank of vice premier, with all the powers of that office barring the one that allows issue of visas. In his first circle of power are deputy editors-in-chief, though the designation could be anything.
Title, authority, power, functions and responsibility are not necessarily matched as we know them to be in India, in the world of Anglo-American journalism or in the Continent. Beneath this layer are a large number of assistants to the EiC, and the day and night editors.
A notch above, but below the first rung, are editors who keep an eye on the day/night editors and the assistants.
These ubiquitous assistants are the eyes and ears of the EiC and, perhaps, of the government, the party and the state, too. Some view them as competent editors and tested journalists who should not be trifled with merely because of their unflattering designation and unassuming disposition. Others see these assistants, at best, as factotums; and, at worst, as sheepdogs, who keep the flock, including expats (also called ‘foreign experts’), from ‘straying’; or, falling prey to journalistic practices for which China Daily has little use. Doubtless, among the assistants, are good and bad guys.
The assistants keep track of everything-including what you have written, edited, done on your computer during the working day or night. They don’t miss a trick. Rare is the expat who can give them the slip. They have at their command loyalist expats who do their every bidding, against their own countrymen.
Servitude to these assistants is the surest way to survive and succeed-as ‘successful’ expats, including from India, learned early on. These expats jealously guard their position by keeping out other countrymen of theirs, unless these newcomers are willing to become as, if not more, abject as them in their ‘performance’. The expat’s journalistic competence does not decide his or her place and role in China Daily. Yet this paper provides the best package of pay and perquisites and looks after its staff very well.
If you are free of notions of journalism acquired elsewhere, carry out every wish of the Chinese bosses (assistants to the EiC) as your command and feel pleased and privileged to perform like a flea-then you can collect a tidy sum and live it up. Nobody will tell you to your face that you suck; that you are a sly and sleazy lowlife; and that your ‘success’ (as a survivor) is because you, as the factotum’s pup, are a trusty doormat. The fault lies not in those at the helm of China Daily-who are preoccupied with so much else-but those lower down: the expats at the bottom, who rank low and stoop lower though they draw a higher pay than the Chinese at the top.
The expat journalist barely stands out in Xinhua. This agency’s universe is huge and it pays less than China Daily. Yet, Xinhua is the acme of achievement for the Chinese, and the expat here is a contented soul with the job not straining his self-respect. Xinhua’s brand of journalism may be alien, but s/he gladly does a job (editing text/copy, which does not call for his kind of journalistic values or judgment) to the institution’s satisfaction.
The expat has no complaint against Xinhua’s culture (as an organisation, not as a media/ journalism entity). The hours are shorter, there is more leave, a paid annual holiday, good cafeterias and, as a US journalist said, no pressure to “perform like a flea”. There is enough time for other pursuits-research, writing books, learning Chinese, exploring China and all things Chinese and such-and a great personal and family life. Xinhua may be an institution of state, but unlike other media biggies, it is a rule-maker. The pay is a shade lower than in China Daily, from where many expats moved to Global Times. They feel the pay cut is well worth the shift. Often praised as the Fox News of China, Global Times is young, and has a robust journalistic air about it. The editors are visible, accessible, hands-on and in close daily working contact with the staff. It may be subject to the same limitations as China Daily and other Chinese media outlets, but it does not let the restrictions and opacity kill the buzz about the place.
I had a terrific time in Global Times. Most expats tend to assume censorship and restrictions even where they do not exist. Expat colleagues told me that the signed editorial comment space was strictly for the Chinese to articulate what the bosses order. That may be true nine out of ten times, but there’s the one-tenth chance at which you can take a shot. I did and was surprised that they welcomed my piece-on a topic at the centre of Chinese politics. I had pulled no punches, but the editors who keep an eagle eye against transgressions, said I was not critical enough-the subject called for sharper criticism. Expats are so keen on their by-line and, at the same time, wanting to please that most of them end up writing superficial, touristy and ‘lifestyle’ pieces. Rare is the expat who has not written about negotiating his way in China.
