The Western Media Myth

A lot of major news events have happened in China over the last couple of years. Some are good and some...not so good. However, when news agencies from abroad report on the stories, they are often looked upon by many Chinese as biased and/or anti-Chinese labeling them as “Western”. But a closer look shows that nothing could be further from the truth.
One of the first mistakes that some Chinese make when criticizing a story is labeling the story as “Western.” In reality however, the story could be labeled as such so long as it is not from a Chinese source. Japanese, Korean, or Indian stories that displease some Chinese readers are immediately called “Western” when anybody who took 4th grade geography knows that they are not. So where does this label come from, and why are so many using it so freely?

One possibility could be China’s history. In schools, many Chinese learn that they have often been the victim and never the aggressor and that, far too often, the aggressor has been from the West. The lessons of the Opium War, French-Sino war, and the Unequal Treaties, China was forced to sign are just of the few humiliations the Imperial West brought upon China in the past. For some, despite all the prosperity that has come to China by and the West by cooperating, they believe Western countries still look to humiliate China today, no longer by treaties or the barrel of a gun, but by making it lose face in the media.

What many of these people don’t understand is that reporting something bad isn’t biased, but reality. The motive of a good reporter is to report the story as they see it, not to make China or any other person or place lose or gain face. Readers all over the world love to read happy things that make themselves feel good. But that isn’t reality. Sometimes bad things happen. Why should reporters, (Chinese and foreign alike) not report the story as they see it? When foreign reporters are “escorted” and or barred from an area where news happens, how much accuracy does those critical of non-Chinese reports expect? To its credit, more media freedom has been granted to journalists in China, but we have yet to see if they are effective at giving reporters access to areas news is happening in. This was not the case during the Xinjiang riots and it, no doubt, affected the accuracy of some news reports.

While they may still be living in the past, and be too extreme in their accusations, critics of non-Chinese news are right to be suspicious and question the news they watch and read. They are right to think about the motives of a story and question its legitimacy and whether it’s biased or not.

It amazes me, however, how these same people can completely avoid doing the same when it comes to the Chinese news they watch and read every day. Is it so unbelievable to think that Chinese news agencies might be just as flawed as those outside the country? Is it not possible that Chinese news agencies have motives and sometimes write stories that are slanted or false just as some Chinese claim foreign news agencies do?

There is no “West” in news. There are simply journalists from all over the world trying to report on a story. The companies and/or countries they report for may be biased but a smart reader never reads the news without questioning it anyways. If you are interested in a topic, you should read about it from many sources, no matter what country it comes from and then come to your own conclusions. Do not discredit an article because it is from a place outside your country. There are some truths even in the most offensive articles. Only by keeping an open mind will you truly get the whole story and in the end, you will be better informed and better off for it.