Importance of value-based journalism

• Source: Global Times
• [02:53 February 03 2010]
• Comments

By Chen Chenchen

Ten journalists who were bought to remain silent at a coalmine blaster in North China's Hubei Province in July 2008 were sent to trial recently.

Three of them were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 3 to 16 years. The General Administration of Press and Publication revoked their press credentials and barred the three from engaging in journalism.

It cost local coalmine owners 2.6 million yuan ($382,000) to seal the lips of the journalists.

A former local Party Secretary, who "directed" the bribery scandal in a bid to black out media coverage, was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment in December 2009 while 18 local officials involved received disciplinary punishment. The scandal is a typical case of collusion between local government, enterprises and media.

While "seeking truth" remains a motto for many reporters, some journalists follow qianguize (tacit rules). "Bribes can cover up facts," is a well-known qianguize of publicity departments in local governments and enterprises.

Specifically, whenever a disaster happens, their first priority is to intercept reporters arriving on the scene, often for being lured to dinner or bought off. This seems to be a win-win formula since one party keeps its secret while the other gets money.

Media exposure, a weapon supposed to penalize malefactors and chase justice, is a trump card often used to bargain with or even extort money from problematic enterprises and organizations.

A friend of mine working for a wine factory in Jiangsu Province once lamented: "It's so hard to gratify some reporters from provincial media outlets. They come at the right time to grass-roots units and walk around purposefully. You don't know what they want to report. You have to put enough money in their pockets to avoid trouble."

Such brazen transactions between some journalists and organizations causes public dismay. When media, believed to be the conscience of society, becomes a fig leaf to cover social black holes, its supervisory function is actually paralyzed.

If people cannot trust the newspapers or TV channels they rely on to acquire information each day, social communication will be blocked. Such trust, serving as an important pillar for social stability, will soon collapse.

Due to the special characteristics of the news industry, people from all walks of life are needed to cover diverse social fields. Sometimes the entry threshold is not high.

People holding different ethical values may serve in the same media organization. What's worse, there is little systematic supervision to eliminate journalists who disregard ethics.

These deficiencies and other weaknesses that endanger journalism in China call for urgent remedial action.