More China Talk

Posted today on Drudge is a link to an interview of Washington Post Managing Editor Philip Bennett by the People's Daily, Red China's official paper. It is kind of long so I will just touch on a number of bombs and pandering remarks.

Bennett on the US as the leader of the world:

No, I don't think US should be the leader of the world. My job is helping my readers trying to understand what is happening now. What is happening now is very difficult to understand. The world is very complex. There are various complex forces occurring in it. I don't think you can imagine a world where one country or one group of people could lead everybody else. I can't imagine that could happen. I also think it is unhealthy to have one country as the leader of the world. People in other countries don't want to be led by foreign countries. They may want to have good relations with it or they may want to share with what is good in that country.

That is also a sort of colonial question. The world has gone through colonialism and imperialism. We have seen the danger and shortcomings of those systems. If we are heading into another period of imperialism where the US thinks itself as the leader of the area and its interest should prevail over all other interests of its neighbors and hers, then I think the world will be in an unhappy period.

That sounded like an opinion that was driving the paper's coverage, but two questions later Bennett states:

We have a little bit different roles in newspapers compared with our counterparts in Europe and other countries. We don't have any political point of view that we are trying to advance. We don't represent any political parties. We are not tied to any political movement. On the news side of the paper we try not to give opinions. So I think the role the Washington Post should play is to hold the government accountable for decisions made by it.

Bennett on the subjective nature of democracy:

Democracy means many things. How do you define democracy? As a Chinese journalist, you may have your own definition of democracy which corresponds to your history and your way of seeing the world. I may have another definition. Someone else may have their own definitions. Democracy means a lot of different things.

Bennett on the perception that his paper's coverage of China focuses on dissidents:

No, it is not true. If You look at all the stories published on the major newspapers about China last year, you would find the widest variety of stories of any time since US journalists were allowed back in China...In the past the party congress is the center of journalism, but today it is no longer the center for our reporters. We are more interested in the environment, the students, the business, the corruption and all sorts of different issues.

On being objective and balanced in the Post's China coverage:

Does the coverage see everything from the perspective of Chinese government? No. I think there are periods in which US government or political figures go through the moments of China bashing or very negative talking about China. But the media is more balanced than that. I don't think we are running after those negative issues. We are trying to see the big picture, not the little points of disputes.

Bennett's final boot lick:

Yes, but we have difficult in the access to the information here in Washington DC too. I don't expect Chinese government to become completely open just because American journalists want them to become more open.

It is very important for us to be able to reflect the views of China on major issues. To reflect the views accurately requires us to have access to the people who have those views. So being able to speak to the officials is very important for the accuracy and balance of our coverage. But I feel we do pretty well on that.

For a time when it was difficult for us to get visas, to travel in China, those things have improved dramatically. I don't know why but I would surmise one of the reasons is that Chinese government has recognized the value of having foreign journalists have access to China and write about something good or bad and get as much freedom as the law provides to write stories without fearing retaliation or punishment.. If I were a young journalist today, figuring out where I should go to make my career, I would go to China.