Covering the
Environment
and Health
JMSC0034: Covering China
Fall 2011
Ms. Sky Canaves
Issues of China’s Growth
 Resource
scarcity: energy, food, minerals,
water
 Pollution: air, water, food
 Health: overcrowding, workers’
conditions, food and drug safety
 Role of lax legal enforcement, corruption
Global implications
Geo-politics
Chellany
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of water: Brahma
No substitute for water
Limitations on imports
Relatively dry region with high population
growth
Water-intensive agriculture, especially for
rising meat consumption
Over-damming of rivers
Global implications
 China-Burma
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dam dispute
Chinese company running dam project along
Irrawaddy river in Burma
Almost all electricity generated by dam would
have been purchased by China
But protests over relocations and environmental
impact lead to halt
China calls on Burmese government to respect
the company’s legal rights and interests
Global implications
Global implications
 China-Burma
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dam dispute
Reporting on dispute: not all mention Chinese
role apart from construction
More backstory: fighting since June near dam
site between Burmese army and independence
forces
Dam perceived as way for army to take control
over region
Thousands of refugees, unknown number dead
Reporting on Issues
Which
issues are most pressing?
How does media report and
frame the issues?
What are the impacts of media
attention?
What is the role of public
opinion?
Media, Environment and
Health Issues in China
 Shows
interaction between government,
media and public
 Expansion of media outlets creates new
opportunities for different types of
reporting
 Communications and advocacy role of
environmental civil society organizations
 Public mobilization around new
technologies
Media, Environment and
Health Issues in China
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Protests over environmental and health issues,
while possibly sensitive, not as threatening to
Party dominance as other issues
Party is outwardly aligned with goals of
environmental sustainability and good health
of citizens
But contradictions over growth vs.
environment, health, safety
What happens when corruption and politics
are implicated in crises and scandals?
Case Study: AIDS in Henan
Case Study: AIDS in Henan
 Blood
selling practice encouraged
by local officials
 Awareness of problems in 1995-1996
 But local obstructionism killed the
story
 Interference with doctors and
testing
 Lack of transparency in reporting
illnesses
Case Study: AIDS in Henan
 Jan.
2000: Zhang Jicheng reports in
Huaxi Dushibao (Sichuan province)
 Chinese media and academic reports
 Concerns raised with Beijing
 May 2011: Henan bans media
coverage of AIDS after Dahe Daily
report
 Aug. 2000: New York Times coverage
begins to draw global attention
Case Study: AIDS in Henan
 Gradual
progress on story by
journalists from variety of
independent-leaning and foreign
media, experts
 Compare extensive coverage in
Chinese outlets with relatively brief
but powerful reporting from foreign
sources
Case Study: AIDS in Henan
 Calculated
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risks v. repercussions
Cross-regional reporting
“Shouldering the door”: enough people
apply limited force
“Boxing under the table”: working within
Party restrictions
“Jiao Junior”: wait until someone else
speaks out first, then follow suit
“Taking half a step”: Don’t jump the gun
Case Study: SARS
 Limited
reporting prior to appearance in
Hong Kong in Feb. 2003
 By April 10, Ministry of Health had
disclosed only 22 cases
 April 20: acknowledgement of a serious
problem, 339 cases counted, health
minister and Beijing mayor sacked
 April 27: official tally nears 3,000
 Chinese media criticism of handling
Case Study: SARS
 Jiang
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Yanyong: the “SARS” doctor
Whistleblower sent letter to CCTV4 and
Phoenix News
Contradicted official count of only 12 cases
in Beijing. Jiang said one hospital alone had
seen 60 cases, with seven deaths
Letter leaked to foreign media
Case Study: SARS
 Caijing
magazine reporting revealed
spread of SARS in Beijing
Case Study: SARS
 Aftermath
 Lessons
for transparency?
 January 2004: Swift retribution for
Southern Metropolis Daily after reemergence of SARS reported
 Fall 2009: Slow reporting on H1N1
deaths
 Limited power of WHO
Case Study: Songhua River
Case Study: Songhua River
 Nov.
13, 2005: Chemical plant explosion
triggers toxic spill in northeast China
 Early Chinese media reports mentioned
the plant explosion but not the spill -- until
water supplies to major city of Harbin had
to be cut
 Initial government response was that
water supplies suspended for routine
maintenance – misinformation fuels
rumors and panic
Case Study: Songhua River
 CCTV
broke the story of the spill , no
longer a local issue
 Environmental minister Xie Zhenhua
resigned right away, but appointed NDRC
vice-minister a year later, China’s
Copenhagen climate change negotiator
 5-year, 13 billion RMB plan to clean
Songhua river announced, subsequently
extended to 10-years, 26 billion RMB
Case Study: Packages
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Collection of stories on environmental and health
impacts of China’s rapid economic growth
WSJ: lead poisoning, water pollution, white
dolphin, illegal mining, among other stories on
social costs of growth, won Pulitzer
NYT: a year later sole focus on health and
environment
Another NYT package, “A Toxic Pipeline,” that
touched on China, also won Pulitzer
Case Study: Packages
 How
do foreign media represent
China’s environmental and health
issues?
 How are the stories framed?
 What are common themes?
 How do foreign media decide
which stories to cover?
Case Study: Packages
 WSJ: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2007International-Reporting
 NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/08/
26/world/asia/choking_on_growth.html
 NYT:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/internati
onal/series/toxicpipeline/index.html
Case Study: Three Gorges Dam
Case Study: Three Gorges
Dam
 Reporting
in China: Dai Qing
 Yangtze! Yangtze! (是否该进行长江三峡水坝
的工程) (1989)
 The River Dragon Has Come! (水龍來
了!)(1996)
 Reporter as activist: Dai has been vocal
opponent of dam, jailed after 1989
Case Study: Three Gorges
Dam
 Reporting
in English: WSJ (2007)
 Focus on erosion, landslides, silt build-up,
pollution , structural dangers
 Some prior coverage by Chinese media,
but WSJ report acknowledged by
government official weeks later
 Follow up story on revelation of additional
relocation plans affecting 2 million
Case Study: Tainted Milk
 Sanlu:
company at center of scandal,
based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province
 43% owned by Fonterra, New Zealand
Dairy giant
 On Sept. 5, Fonterra had informed NZ
government, which then turned to
authorities in Beijing
Case Study: Tainted Milk
 Unscrupulous
producers added chemical
melamine to watered-down milk to
increase appearance of protein content
 Melamine is toxic, causing kidney failure in
severe cases
 Xinhua reported unusual outbreak of
kindey stones in Gansu province on Sept.
10, 2008
 Local papers followed up the next day
Case Study: Tainted Milk
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Southern Weekend was aware in July 2008 on
infants who fell ill after consuming Sanlu milk
powder, but could not report
Even after initial news broke, Southern
Weekend reporting suppressed by authorities
Reports of Sanlu media strategy with Baidupay to censor negative search results
Media ordered to follow Xinhua
Caijing, foreign media role
Case Study: Tainted Milk
 Altogether
nearly 300,000 infants
affected, only 3 confirmed deaths
Case Study: Vaccines
 Wang
Keqin, pioneering investigative
reporter, then with China Economic Times
 March 2010: breaks story on faulty
vaccines in Shanxi that caused death of 4
children, injured many others
 Story removed from CET site, but still
circulated on portals for some time
Case Study: PX Protests
 Spread
of news through microblog -> efforts to control information on
microblog
 Images harder to control
 Xinhua releases early Englishlanguage report, but no Chinese
 Broad coverage, largely peaceful
protest, swift resolution
Case Study: PX Protests
 Spread
of news through microblog -->
efforts to control information on microblog
 Images harder to control
 Xinhua releases early English-language
report, but no Chinese
 Broad coverage, largely peaceful protest,
swift resolution
 https://plus.google.com/photos/10780639
9768906113634/albums/5640536706258776
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