Why China is skeptical of native journalists working for Western media

China’s state media have stepped up their assaults on Western media shops previously few weeks.

The Xinhua information company stated in an English-language report on March 15 that Western media organizations have “recruited a cohort of Chinese media practitioners as pawns to propagate their China-bashing rhetoric.”

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“The stories have distorted China’s domestic and foreign policies and reinforced the highly biased image of China in the Western world, gravely violating basic professional ethics and eliminating any sense of objectivity,” the report stated.

Xinhua cited Western media’s studies about China’s preliminary COVID response and the human rights violations in Xinjiang state as examples of Western media’s “smear campaign against China” that may not have been potential with out the assistance from their Chinese workers.

“Chinese reporters in Western media have also cobbled together ‘evidence’ depicting China’s so-called human rights violations,” the Xinhua report claimed.

Experts are of the view that the Xinhua article displays a worrying development of finger-pointing at Chinese journalists related to Western media.

Kecheng Fang, assistant professor of Media and Communications on the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), informed DW that different nationalistic media shops, too, have revealed related studies.

“Some of these local journalists are now worried about their personal safety as well as the safety of their family members in China,” he informed DW.

“The Xinhua article criticized them for participating in China-bashing stories, but many of the journalists I have spoken to say they will continue to contribute to the China-related reporting in Western media,” Fang stated, including that they consider their work provides to a greater understanding of China in overseas media.

‘Attack from outside’

According to Western China observers, accusations towards native journalists working for overseas media organizations mirror the general sense of nationalism in China.

“There is this general atmosphere of protection against the hostile intention of the ‘outside,’” David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project, a corporation monitoring the media atmosphere in China, informed DW.

“There is a renewed push against Chinese people who are seen as colluding. We even see the word ‘hostile forces’ come in. It doesn’t just mean outside forces; it means people inside China who are working with these ‘hostile foreign forces,’” he added.

Yangyang Cheng, a fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, fears that the development will put Chinese journalists working for overseas media in hurt’s manner.

“In addition to potential friction with the Chinese state and its security forces, the views expressed in the [Xinhua] article, coming from an official channel, will further legitimize and incentivize harassment and online attacks on these Chinese journalists from Chinese nationalists and their sympathizers,” she informed DW.

Encouraging ‘witch-hunt’

A Mandarin-language article revealed by the state-run tabloid Global Times newspaper in February named a number of Chinese journalists who “defected to Western media” and stabbed the Chinese individuals and the nation within the again.

The article revealed the names, employment histories, and photographs of some Chinese journalists working for overseas media shops, and criticized them for taking part in an element within the alleged Western conspiracy.

“Originally, cross-culturalism was the outstanding advantage of these people, who could bring a more objective and realistic view of the world and China to Chinese and Western readers with their unique perspectives,” the article stated. “However, they [Chinese journalists] used their reports to pass the knife to the anti-China forces in the West and shoot their compatriots in the back.”

Chiaoning Su, a journalism professor at Oakland University, says these measures might encourage Chinese nationalists to provoke a witch-hunt towards these journalists.

“By describing these journalists as ‘traitors’ and denigrating their professionalism and impartiality in the field of journalism, the Chinese government is attempting to clear its name from the misconduct that they have committed,” she informed DW. “They also try to distort press freedom that has been upheld by Western media into an ideological propaganda.”

Objective China reporting

Yangyang Cheng from Yale Law School says it’s crucial for overseas media to do extra to guard their Chinese workers and their sources in China.

Experts agree that the worsening media state of affairs in China is prone to make reporting on the nation much more troublesome for overseas media.

“Authoritarian countries, including China and Russia, are restricting the space for news coverage,” stated Chiaoning Su from Oakland University.

“As an increasing number of foreign media outlets are forced to leave China due to various reasons, they will face more challenges when it comes to their China reporting,” Su stated, including that it will likely be troublesome for them to realize the belief of the interviewees and to painting a truthful image of the state of affairs within the nation.