Chinese news coverage of Pakistan typically depicts the United States as the only foreign country that is a factor in Pakistan’s affairs. This is in keeping with a general tendency to depict the United States as a meddlesome power, in sharp contrast with China, which frequently proclaims that it does not interfere in the affairs of other countries, and sees to it that this line is scrupulously echoed in the news media.
“In its world coverage, the Chinese press often presents an ‘It’s none of our business, let’s watch the show’ attitude,” said Zhang Ping, a veteran editor with the Nanfang Press Corporation, one of China’s most highly regarded news companies. “This is, of course, the safest approach.”
Tao Yong, a freelance Chinese journalist who broke ground with original reporting from Africa recently, said editors brought strong preconceived notions to each subject that are often insurmountable. Chief among them is showing China in a positive light.
“Take Darfur, for example,” Mr. Tao said. “The first thing many Chinese media want to say is that China has nothing to do with Darfur. That’s unrealistic. The truth is neither that China has no influence, as Chinese media say, or that its influence is as big as the foreign media describe.”
In many ways, reporting about the United States, which typically receives the closest coverage of any country here, is far less rigidly ideological than in the past, when China still saw capitalism as antithetical to its socialist system.
Still, subjects that are implicitly critical of American society are fair game for China’s news media, whereas in many other countries, which China does not openly regard as rivals, topics that could be perceived as critical are generally avoided.
“For America, basically bad news is good news, meaning all important news can be covered without taboo,” said Ma Ling, an associate professor of journalism at Shanghai’s Fudan University. “Compared to the U.S., Russia would be a place that requires more caution. Although China and Russia don’t lack conflicts, China wants to solve those problems in an ‘appropriate’ way, rather than letting the media amplify them.”