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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Disasters & Emergencies

The Same-Day Landslides, Two Very Different Media Pictures: Do Chinese Journalists Suddenly Know How to Report in Nepal?

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • Nepal and China experienced severe landslides on the same day, but the report says publicly available information differed sharply between the two countries.
  • Coverage in Nepal focused on survivors and affected families, while Chinese reports focused mainly on rescuers, officials, drivers and relief supplies.
  • Social media users criticized Chinese media for reporting difficult news abroad while avoiding victims’ experiences at home.

Nepal and China suffered severe landslides on the same day, but their media coverage presented sharply different pictures, according to the report.

Information from Nepal was described as relatively open and searchable, with coverage showing survivors and families of people still missing. Chinese reports, by contrast, focused heavily on rescue workers, officials, drivers and relief supplies, while affected residents rarely appeared.

Chinese journalists in China can only report good news and not bad news.

— Chinese social media usersUsers criticized the contrast between Chinese reporting at home and Chinese coverage of the Nepal disaster.

Social media users mocked the contrast. They said Chinese journalists seemed to know to find survivors and relatives of missing people once they arrived in Nepal, and to ask what happened when the landslide struck and how people escaped. The criticism pointed to a domestic media culture summarized in the phrase “report good news and not bad news.”

The report said the difference was visible even in Xinhua coverage. Its account of the Nepal disaster offered a detailed view of conditions in the affected area. Coverage of Gyirong in China’s Tibet, however, took a warmer approach, highlighting a truck-driving couple who transported an excavator from Gansu, drivers carrying 20 or 30 tons of vegetables, volunteers unloading relief supplies and people supporting rescue workers.

Once they arrive in Nepal, Chinese journalists suddenly learn how to conduct interviews.

— Chinese social media usersThe sarcastic comment referred to journalists interviewing survivors and relatives in Nepal.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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