Chinese War Correspondents: Covering Wars And Conflicts In The Twenty-first Century (palgrave Series In Asia And Pacific Studies)

This book engages with the Chinese mediation of wars and conflicts in the global environment. Proposing a new cascading media and conflict model, it applies this to the study of war correspondents from six levels: media-policy relations, journalistic objectivity, role perceptions, news framing and peace/war journalism, news practices, and audience. Based on interviews with 23 Chinese journalists and case study analysis of the Libyan War, Syrian War, Afghanistan War and Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the book demonstrates that a new breed of Chinese war correspondents has emerged today. They undergo a complex and nuanced mediated communication process. Neither traditionally Chinese in their approach nor western in their perceptions, they are uniquely pragmatic in negotiating their roles in a complex web of internal and external actors and factors. The core ideology seemsto be anti-West in defiance of the US hegemony and the bias of global media as well as neutral-Muslims. Exploring the role perceptions, values, norms and practices of contemporary Chinese war correspondents who go outside China to bring the ‘distant culture’ back home, this text is key reading for scholars and students in international journalism, international communication, war and peace studies, international relations and Chinese studies. Dedication 6 Acknowledgments 7 Contents 8 List of Figures 11 List of Tables 12 1: Introduction 14 1 Chinese Journalists Go to War 15 2 Defining War Correspondents 18 3 Proposing a Theoretical Framework to Study War Correspondents 19 3.1 Conflict, Foreign Policy and Media 22 3.2 News Organizations, Objectivity and Constraints 24 3.3 War Correspondents, Their Roles and Impact of ICTs 26 3.4 News Framing and Peace/War Journalism 28 3.5 News Audience and Global Actors 30 4 Research Methods 32 5 The Chapters 34 Bibliography 37 2: Motivations, Roles, and Digital Technology 42 1 Chinese War Reporting in a Historic–Social Context 43 2 Demographic Characteristics and Motivations 47 3 Perceived Roles 50 3.1 Objective Reporter 50 3.2 Interpreter 51 3.3 Propagandists or Patriots 51 3.4 Diplomats 53 4 Impact of Digital Technology 54 4.1 Work Routine and Production Process 54 4.2 Supplementary Reporting Tool 55 4.3 Multi-Platform Reporting 55 5 Conclusion 55 Bibliography 57 3: Objectivity and Constraints in War Reporting 60 1 News Professionalism in China 61 2 Objectivity in Wartime Journalism 61 3 Objectivity-as-a-Value 66 4 Objectivity-as-a-Practice 70 5 Conclusion 77 Bibliography 78 4: Foreign Policy and War Correspondents 82 1 China’s Foreign Policy on the Middle East 82 2 China’s Foreign Policy on the Libyan War 86 3 China’s Foreign Policy on the Syrian War 87 4 China’s Foreign Policy on the Palestinian-­Israeli Conflict 88 5 The Impact of Foreign Policy on War Reporting 90 6 The Media Influence on Foreign Policy 96 7 Conclusion 97 Bibliography 99 5: Covering the Libyan War 101 1 The Libyan War 101 2 Tripoli or Benghazi? 102 3 Peace or War Journalism? 105 4 Discourses in News Headlines 107 5 Diversity of Voices 113 6 Humanity 115 7 Conclusion 119 Notes 120 Bibliography 121 6: Covering the Syrian War 122 1 The Syrian War 122 2 War or Peace Journalism? 123 3 Discourses in News Headlines 125 4 A Global Times Journalist’s Story 132 4.1 Witness Accounts from Homs 132 4.2 The Syrian ‘Silent Majority’ 134 4.3 Western Powers 135 4.4 China’s Position 136 5 A Resident Correspondent’s Story 137 5.1 Biased Western Media and Al Jazeera 138 5.2 Bearing Witness 139 5.3 News Analysis 140 5.4 Danger in Damascus 140 5.5 Local Media Workers 141 6 Conclusion 142 Notes 144 Bibliography 144 7: Covering the Afghanistan War 146 1 The Afghanistan War 146 2 War or Peace Journalism? 147 3 Discourses in the News Headlines 149 4 Chinese Embedded Journalists 153 4.1 The US Army 155 4.2 Taliban 160 4.3 The Afghanistan War and China 161 5 Conclusion 164 Notes 166 Bibliography 166 8: Covering the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict 167 1 The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict 167 2 War or Peace Journalism? 169 3 Discourses in News Headlines 171 4 Production Routine 177 5 News Selection 182 6 Editorial Orientation 184 7 Conclusion 188 Bibliography 189 9: Conclusion 190 1 Six Levels 191 2 Theoretical Contributions 198 3 Methodological Contributions 201 4 Limitations and Direction for Future Research 202 Bibliography 203 Bibliography 204 Index 206 This book engages with the Chinese mediation of wars and conflicts in the global environment. Proposing a new cascading media and conflict model, it applies this to the study of war correspondents from six levels: media-policy relations, journalistic objectivity, role perceptions, news framing and peace/war journalism, news practices, and audience. Based on interviews with 23 Chinese journalists and case study analysis of the Libyan War, Syrian War, Afghanistan War and Palestinian-Israelis Conflict, the book demonstrates that a new breed of Chinese war correspondents has emerged today. Neither traditionally Chinese in their approach nor western in their perceptions, they are uniquely pragmatic in negotiating their roles in a complex web of internal and external actors and factors. The core ideology seems to be anti-West in defiance of the US hegemony and the bias of global media as well as neutral-Muslims. Exploring the role perceptions, values, norms and practices of contemporary Chinese war correspondents who go outside China to bring the 'distant culture' back home, this text is key reading for scholars and students in international journalism, international communication, war and peace studies, international relations and Chinese studies Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction....Pages 1-28 Motivations, Roles, and Digital Technology....Pages 29-46 Objectivity and Constraints in War Reporting....Pages 47-68 Foreign Policy and War Correspondents....Pages 69-87 Covering the Libyan War....Pages 89-109 Covering the Syrian War....Pages 111-134 Covering the Afghanistan War....Pages 135-155 Covering the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict....Pages 157-179 Conclusion....Pages 181-194 Back Matter....Pages 195-204