Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments). There are three possible stages in a journalist’s career, and each transition is very painful and difficult. The first stage is that of the reporter. You are responsible for your own work, and nobody else’s. Occasionally you work as part of a team, or use a researcher or other assistant. But you’re most often on your own. The goal is to report and write the best possible story within the constraints of your publication’s editorial guidelines. If you stay a reporter, your career moves include switching to a better beat, or moving to a larger media outlet. You can also write books, give speeches, or appear as … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments). For another view of working in China, by 24-year-old Charlie Gidney, who writes for the China Daily, check out his blog Positive Solutions. In Sunday’s post Boxes he talks about the various constraints that the English-language state-owned media are under. I can’t imagine what it must be like, starting your journalism career at a censored publication. In my 15 years as a journalist, I can’t remember a time when one of my stories was canned because of political or advertising considerations. Though, of course, there have been plenty of instances when a story was sent back because an editor wanted me to do additional reporting or fix writing problems. I … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments). Thursday night was our weekly Cotton’s Bar drinks get-together. One of our new visitors was a man who launched twelve magazines. Twelve magazines! And in not a single case did a journalist make the move to publisher. I only know one man who did — Graham Earnshaw, formerly of Reuters, who’s now the successful publisher of the China Economic Review. I need to talk to him again about how he did it. Does anyone else know of any journalists who have made a transition to publisher? The man who started the twelve magazines is now running an Internet-based business teleivion program in Japan and is in the process of … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. More proof that here in China, we’re covering the biggest business story on the planet. This year, for the second year in a row, a Pulitzer was awarded for China coverage. This year, the Wall Street Journal got the prize. Here’s a link to the winning stories. Congratulations, WSJ. Signing off in Shanghai, Maria … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. There was a great story in the LA Times today — Reporter recalls the layers of truth told in Iraq (thanks, Lauren, for bringing it to my attention). The part that particularly struck me was when Borzou Daragah, the LA Times former bureau chief in Baghdad, wrote about lying to his closest and dearest about how much danger he was in. He also talked about war reporting as an addiction. I also noticed that he skimmed over the part about how he first became a war correspondent – specifically, the practical aspects of how he went about getting his first assignment. I don’t know if this was intentional … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. Here is the translation of a report about a bit of investigative journalism into KFC and McDonald’s wage problems in the south of China. (Thanks to Fons Tuinstra for bringing it to my attention.) It details how a journalist and student interns went undercover to expose some bad labor practices. I personally would have liked to see a bit more meat to the reporting — more interviews with other employees, a bit more comparative data about what other restaurants (both foreign and local) are paying their staff, more from government officials, maybe a labor union perspective. But given that the whole idea of investigative reporting in China is still in … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. In the previous post, I included a link to the EastSouthWestNorth blog, which translates some of the more interesting stories from Chinese newspapers into English. Certainly puts the business reporting that I do into perspective. From recent posts: The Fenyang Mining Disaster (04/07/2007) (Shanxi Daily) On April 2 afternoon, the reporter came to the Sankeng mine again. He was jostled by unidentified men who threatened to bury him and his driver in a ditch. Out of safety considerations, the reporter left the scene. Then a crazy car case occurred with a black Santana. CCTV Reporters Assaulted in Qinhuangdao City (04/07/2007) (NetEase) … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. On Tuesday, the Chinese government issued a degree making it illegal to bribe journalists to run (or not run) stories. Here’s the China Daily story. I don’t know how I feel about this. On the one hand: bribery – bad. Ethics – good. On the other hand – freedom of the press. There are plenty of journalists who take money from sources in the United States. In Singapore, I met a few who claimed they were able to keep things “separated in their heads” so the money wouldn’t influence their coverage. And then there are publications that out-and-out sell advertising space. We all know who they are. Everybody knows. And it’s … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. I don’t know how long this has been happening, but I just noticed that the Associated Press quoted a Chinese blogger on a story (about a famous house in the south of China that developers could not demolish and that stuck out for three years like a nail in the middle of a huge construction zone). The house owners just agreed to a compensation deal and the house came down, with the blogger as witness. In addition to quoting the blogger, Zhou Shuguang, in the story, the Associated Press also linked to his blog. The blog is in Chinese, but you can read the Google translation of it. Unfortunately, … Read entire article »

Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism’s “Journalism and the World” blog. Click here to see the original post. Just got back from another night at Cotton’s Bar, drinking with the other expat journalists in town. The usual gang was there. The famous Shanghai novelist autographed copies of her book. The guy starting the new Speakers Bureau was going around signing up potential speakers. And the venture capitalist was surreptitiously checking out people’s business plans. A different venture capitalist this time — Zhongsu Chen, from New York, who’d done a stint as an exec at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Another newcomer to our little beer night was Matthew Chervenak, who runs a company providing information to the pharmaceutical industry. He’s launching a new monthly newsletter and passed around a … Read entire article »