Free rein on everything but the party
Chinese media reporting can be surprisingly refreshing sometimes, despite widespread government restrictions. Without the limits of western-style political correctness, the media can refer to crime suspects as 'gangsters' or 'criminals'. Rural residents are all 'farmers', the physically challenged are simply 'handicapped', and African-Americans are 'blacks'. There's no pussy-footing around here, as long as the Communist Party is left alone. In fact, it gives a whole new meaning to the term 'political correctness'.
A CCTV executive I talked to this week agreed: 'There is no direct way of translating the term into Chinese, because of cultural differences,' he said. 'We would probably use the word for 'sensitive', which is translated as mingan, or sometimes use the word 'tactful'. But 'political correctness', in its original western sense, is not a priority.
'We're much more concerned with making sure we get the right political message across in our reporting, and that we don't make mistakes. It's a different form of political correctness. A lot of our stories are political, or concern the government's image, and they have to be 'correct'. Otherwise, there are serious consequences.'
Journalists in mainland China must be particularly careful about the wording of their stories whenever the government or its policies are concerned. Phrases like 'Maoist rebels' in Nepal must be replaced with 'anti-government' forces, for example.
One CCTV editor I talked to had been disciplined for mistakenly referring to Taiwan as a country - a major no-no. Chinese reporters must be careful not to legitimise the Taiwanese regime: President Chen Shui-bian is thus the 'so-called leader' of 'Taiwan province'.
While reporting in the state-owned media - especially on Taiwan, Japan and relations with the United States - is strictly choreographed, it can still be very direct. For example, the Chinese press regularly remind Japan 'not to forget the lessons of history'. It's hard to imagine the British media saying that to the Germans 60 years after the war - at least, in a government-backed way.
The mainland version of politically correct reporting appeared in state-owned media stories about a mine disaster in Shanxi province this month. Local officials originally reported that five miners were missing. CCTV used that figure, giving the story comprehensive coverage on its main news channels. But the number of missing was actually 57: there had been a cover-up at the local level.
CCTV then reported the updated figure, but in a matter-of-fact way - saying only that the initial count had been inaccurate. There was no mention of any foul play. A CCTV insider told me that the broadcaster didn't want to give the impression that official cover-ups were a common occurrence.
Xinhua went a step further by reporting the cover-up, saying local authorities in charge of work safety had tried to block the truth. It even reported that a mine manager, wanted in connection with the incident, had fled to Inner Mongolia with his mistress. Once the authorities had decided he was guilty, he was free game for media-style justice. The reports simply called him a 'gangster', without the qualifying 'alleged' used in western-style reporting. Gangster ... now that's a word I'd like to hear more on CNN.
Eanna O'Brogain is a Beijing-based journalist
