TOW #14 - Editorial: Journalism in China

For this week’s TOW, I decided to read and analyze a Washington Post opinion article titled “China’s Wrongheaded Crackdown on the Media” which was written by the Washington Post’s Editorial Board. “Wrongheaded”, while its meaning may be more or less obvious, means to be misguided or to have bad judgement, which is essentially the argument that the editorial attempts to make about China’s leaders with regards to the freedoms is allows its journalists. The authors first attempt to do this by juxtaposing two different quotes about journalism: one from the Soviet Union in 1976, and the other from a study guide for Chinese news reporters and editors. Contrary to its more common use in which juxtaposition is used to point out differences, this editorial uses the rhetorical device to highlight some scary similarities. Both quotes stress the importance of being loyal to the governing political party and its leaders. The editorial’s authors continue to state that the Chinese president, “Has been championing slogans and ideology from Mao’s day and the pursuit of a Marxist Utopia, a pursuit that led to great suffering for hundreds of millions of people.” After making these two comparisons, it is apparent that the editorial suggests that because China is currently using old tactics similar to those that led to the Soviet Union’s demise, and strategies that originally led to “great suffering for hundreds of millions of people”, that China will see the same results due to using the same “outdated” plan. At the end of the editorial, its authors suggest a change in policy for Chinese President Xi which is that he should, “Let China’s journalists prepare themselves for tomorrow -- to get in sync with the globalized information revolution -- than to retreat behind the red banners of yesteryear.” All in all, I found the editorial to be effective in arguing against the current policy for Chinese journalists by mainly relying on the similarities between China now and the era of the Soviet Union/Mao Zedong.

A protester holds aloft a banner calling for freedom of speech near the headquarters of Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Monday.