Mediating Asia| Reporting from China: 400 Reports, on 1.4 Billion People, in One Authoritarian State — Commentary

Authors

  • Melissa K. Chan Correspondent Al Jazeera America USA

Abstract

My posting as Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Beijing covered transformative years—from the run-up to the much anticipated 2008 Olympics to the post-Olympic period that saw the tightening of civil liberties and press freedom. The Chinese government’s decision to try to control the message took a toll on the foreign press corps, and I recount the nuts and bolts of trying to run a television news operation in the country and my experiences with reporting interference in roiling, rollicking China. In doing so, I examine the government’s uncomfortable relationship with the media, at times clumsy and incommensurate with its growing global status but also effective in controlling information. I discuss my own story, when the government expelled me from the country in 2012—an early clue that the media would become a greater diplomatic battleground. How China approaches its relationship to overseas journalists has a direct impact on how the country is viewed overseas. It is not clear whether Beijing fails to understand this or does not care.

Author Biography

Melissa K. Chan, Correspondent Al Jazeera America USA

She covered the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province that killed at least 68,000 people. In 2009, she covered the riots in Urumqi, western China. Most recently, she reported live from Pyongyang, North Korea, on Kim Jong-il's appointment of his son and successor, Kim Jong-un.

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Published

2017-03-22

Issue

Vol. 11 (2017)

Section

Special Sections

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