Speaker at CHINA Town Hall says Chinese journalists do some investigative reporting

In addressing whether the media in China has more or less freedom, Christina Larson, a fellow of the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute, said in an Oct. 18 talk in White Hall that the answer isn't black or white.

"It's a lot more complicated than it seems from the outside," said Larson, who has reported widely from across China and Southeast Asia. "China is such a big place, so varied, that you see lots of different trends happening simultaneously."

Her presentation was part of the nationwide CHINA Town Hall program, a day to facilitate discussion of China's rapid growth and Sino-American relations with experts in the field. Following her presentation, audience members heard from Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the U.S. ambassador to China via a live webcast from Beijing on the status of U.S.-China relations. He also responded to questions that had been sent to him via e-mail.

The awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, a longtime Chinese human rights activist, received widespread coverage in global newspapers, noted Larson, but reporting was limited in China. YouTube videos were diverted and live CNN feeds were cut in most parts of the country, she said. To Beijing, granting the Nobel Peace Prize to an imprisoned political dissident was a slap in the face.

Larson also discussed the environmental activism in the city of Kunming. In response to river pollution, the nonprofit organization Green Kunming clandestinely investigated the role of factories and collaborated with local journalists to publicize the issue, leading to the closure of some offending factories.

"This is a story of reporters actually trying to do something that we don't think of reporters in China doing," said Larson.

Despite some success, journalists in China operate within the constraints of government censorship. Certain topics are always off limits, and editors often receive requests for what to publish. Compounding the problem is the practice of editor appointment by the Communist Party. Young journalists are not rewarded for breaking news, causing frustration with the limited opportunities for career advancement, Larson observed.

Foreign companies also struggle with the challenges of media censorship in China. In response to a hacking incident, Google recently announced its withdrawal from the country, a decision also influenced by the company's initial hesitance to comply with censorship laws. Google's experience was "an example of a big American company trying to walk a very tricky line," Larson said. "They want to be present in China, but they don't like something China is trying to do."

Larson concluded on a positive note, differentiating between media in China and individual journalists. "There's this sense that, oh gosh, everyone who is part of the media establishment in China ... must not have thoughts or initiative of their own," she said. "That is absolutely not the case. There is so much optimism bubbling up from the ground. That gives me hope."

The event was sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Cornell East Asia Program, the Department of Government, the Cornell China & Asia Pacific Studies Program, Cornell Language House/Alice Cook House and Cornell China Forum.

Erica Rhodin '12 is a student writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.

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