This is tragic but the signs have been there for a while. It took an unconscionably long time for the English language Chinese media to twig that the pivot to China was a real thing, as many social media commentators were surprised to see. The combative Global Times was ahead of the pack, as I recall, its editor taking a lot of flak.
Our western media has become a joke, no longer the Washington Post of Watergate in challenging power (although not the system), it has abandoned its Fourth Estate role in holding power to account. But, technically, it still knows the basics of where to place a comma.
I worked at one outlet as a proofreader and learnt so much about my own writing, even if my sentences are still overlong and the "if one comma, then the other one" rule often slips by.
The skills were meticulous. These are teachable. There are style guide booklets we all had to learn - doesn't China have them? It's shocking that skills are not being passed on or developed.
In both East and West, there's been a decapitation of critical thinking and deep intelligence. This must also impact emotional development. Is this due to a childhood spent at screens? Video game shoot 'em ups hard-wiring young brains? Writing skills and comprehension help shape the nation's soul.
I'll finish by saying that one major Chinese outlet in Europe seems more focused on the superficial ratings you describe. The editor hired one extremely gifted western newshound with an amazing track-record living in China and told her to write about social media influencers! Insulting and a waste of talent. She didn't stick around. I have experience going back years that include stints with the BBC and Guardian when they were good but they don't want to know.
I remember as a kid regular visits to the Xinhua journalists' residence in Hampstead and imbibing the amazing intellectual energy of a generation driven by the vision of creating a new society. All those skills lost like tears in rain. The bourgeoisie is in the ascendency and it shows.
Most of this, with only minor alterations, I could plagiarize to write an essay critiquing the U.S. media system. Seems therefore like a common problem within commercialized media systems - running journalism as a for-profit business pushes media systems to the "pap" end of Raymond Williams' spectrum.
When business news becomes political scalp counting exercises, it's easy to see why decision making in the USA has gone to the dogs. My consulting engineer firm quit buying expensive Bloomberg Reports when we found they were riddled with gross errors about easily checkable facts on China, and that nearly all of the errors in these reports were detrimental to China's image/ability to attract foreign investment. Old money/finance capitals use of the NED and CIA's control over newsrooms to carry out unconventional war against China is part of stacking the deck in their own profit.
Would it be fair to say the fall in journalistic standards is limited to certain kinds of media, not all? As the media I come across (as an English language audience) seems perfectly fine. Thinking of CGTN, Global Times and the even the (Chinese language) online publication associated with Eric Li.
This is tragic but the signs have been there for a while. It took an unconscionably long time for the English language Chinese media to twig that the pivot to China was a real thing, as many social media commentators were surprised to see. The combative Global Times was ahead of the pack, as I recall, its editor taking a lot of flak.
Our western media has become a joke, no longer the Washington Post of Watergate in challenging power (although not the system), it has abandoned its Fourth Estate role in holding power to account. But, technically, it still knows the basics of where to place a comma.
I worked at one outlet as a proofreader and learnt so much about my own writing, even if my sentences are still overlong and the "if one comma, then the other one" rule often slips by.
The skills were meticulous. These are teachable. There are style guide booklets we all had to learn - doesn't China have them? It's shocking that skills are not being passed on or developed.
In both East and West, there's been a decapitation of critical thinking and deep intelligence. This must also impact emotional development. Is this due to a childhood spent at screens? Video game shoot 'em ups hard-wiring young brains? Writing skills and comprehension help shape the nation's soul.
I'll finish by saying that one major Chinese outlet in Europe seems more focused on the superficial ratings you describe. The editor hired one extremely gifted western newshound with an amazing track-record living in China and told her to write about social media influencers! Insulting and a waste of talent. She didn't stick around. I have experience going back years that include stints with the BBC and Guardian when they were good but they don't want to know.
I remember as a kid regular visits to the Xinhua journalists' residence in Hampstead and imbibing the amazing intellectual energy of a generation driven by the vision of creating a new society. All those skills lost like tears in rain. The bourgeoisie is in the ascendency and it shows.
Most of this, with only minor alterations, I could plagiarize to write an essay critiquing the U.S. media system. Seems therefore like a common problem within commercialized media systems - running journalism as a for-profit business pushes media systems to the "pap" end of Raymond Williams' spectrum.
When business news becomes political scalp counting exercises, it's easy to see why decision making in the USA has gone to the dogs. My consulting engineer firm quit buying expensive Bloomberg Reports when we found they were riddled with gross errors about easily checkable facts on China, and that nearly all of the errors in these reports were detrimental to China's image/ability to attract foreign investment. Old money/finance capitals use of the NED and CIA's control over newsrooms to carry out unconventional war against China is part of stacking the deck in their own profit.
Would it be fair to say the fall in journalistic standards is limited to certain kinds of media, not all? As the media I come across (as an English language audience) seems perfectly fine. Thinking of CGTN, Global Times and the even the (Chinese language) online publication associated with Eric Li.