Media Relations in China – Issues of Censorship and Government Control

I spent the best part of yesterday stressing, no actually thinking (after reading ‘The Power of Now’ I no longer stress) about what I would do my honours thesis on. I know (reference previous post) im interested in PR, social media, all media, politics and Asia but I am S.T.ruggling to frame a questions/problem that is do’able in a year and that I am fully resourced to adequately answer.  

Last year when I was working (teaching business and marketing studies) in China, I became involved in a dialogue with a Beijing/Singapore based PR company. One of the topics we discussed was the language/culture barrier between Beijing and the West. I asked this particular company, which is part of a global network and represents global clients, about their procedures around selection of graduates and interns. One of the requirments they listed was a need for fluency in Mandarin. I can personally atest to the fact that Mandarin is an increadibly, stupidly difficult second language to learn – trust me…don’t try it at home unless you have ALOT of time and are VERY committed.  

The reason for this was the need to communicate efficiently with an almost entirely Chinese speaking media. Yes, this has merit, alot of merit but I couldn’t help but wonder just how much international industry potential this (and im sure many other) public relations companies are missing out on.

In theory, graduates and interns should be well verserd with the latest industry knowledge and trends. They are fresh out of a learning environment and have not been jaded by bad experience or specialisation. This type of broad-spectrum view of the industry is unique.

All the more concerning is that as China further cements its position as the emerging dominant superpower (and lets face it not even Kyoto will stop the developmental boom) and globalisation continues along its merry technological way –  more and more across all diciplins are entering the Asia-market. Where does this leave PR as a profession? or indeed any profession?

I want to come back to the media. What follows is me trying to keep my dirty western democratic bias at bay and be as politically correct as I possibly can about how I view the current media climate in China and how this effets public relations/media relations.

China’s media is not liberal. It is Government regulated, censored, and licenced. Although I must confess that the English language papers that I did read (China Daily being the most prominent) were of a lot better quality then I expected…Admitadly I expected the worst. However, content wise the newspapers were still a far cry from any Fairfax or News Corp publication (RELATIVELY minor political persuasions aside).

so, China’s media still appears to be  tightly regulated and historical international events such as the Beijing 2008 Olympics and China’s enterence into the WTO present an interesting challenge for the government. The magnitude of such events has thrust China into the global spotlight exposing it to wide international scrutiny.

In light of these positive events it is conceivable that the Chinese government may try and generate as much international media coverge as possible. Whilst it is still relatively simple for the government to regulate internal print and electronic media outlets through licencing, censorship, monitoring and sanctions. It may prove increasingly difficult to control content on the international stage. Take for example the Australian media coverage of the Dalai Lama visit and the political fanfare that surrounded the occasion.

New media such as the Internet is making the transfer of informaiton across countries easier then ever before. An obvious consequence of this is a less regulated and more participatory media environment. Whilst the media relations market is more lax than it was 20 years ago it is important to remember tht media outlets are still required to cover government events which take precedence over most other content. Internally, certain issues may also need to be handled with care to avoid reprisal.

So how does this impact PR and more specifically media relations?

In such a climate it would be wise for practitioners to carefully plan the release dates of content to ensure that it does not coinside with the countries governmental or important national events. Practitioners should also forge strong relationships with journalists and key governmental staff in order to gauge the current and short-term-future media climate. This allows practitioners strategically plant their clients content in a manner that will give it the best chance of publication. It may also be wise for practitioners to list any governmental policies or national advancement initives that their client is involved in or in support of.

Watch this space….this is an issue im very interested in and am definatly going to investigate more….