Tonight on SBS television in Australia I was surprised by a report I had seen by a British journalist in China. The reporter was breaking a story about child labour being used by a company in China to produce official paraphernalia for the upcoming Olympics.
What surprised me was not the content, but the location. I regularly watch the news, but I am at a wits end as to recall another example of a Western journalist breaking a story from China on broadcast television. I assume this will become a more regular feature of nightly news in the West as the Olympics near, and I am very interested to see how different media around the world paint China and her activities.
This particular report had me thinking about such portrayals. Firstly, the report was simply an allegation without any footage or visual proof of the purported activity. I am fully aware that there may be children in China working in the manufacturing industry for wages many Westerners would shudder at. But I also wonder if the children and their family or guardians were asked how they felt about working in such conditions, many would not complain but be thankful that their lives are improving, albeit slowly. As long as these people are working willingly(i.e. not being used as forced labour), I think that the choice should be theirs and that over time their incomes should increase as China's economy continues its unparalled success.
Further, I am acutely aware that these goods and others like them which Chinese companies allegedly employ children to manufacture are the same goods that many across the globe snap up gleefully for their cheap prices.
Anyway, the report will be one of many that I am certain will catch the attention of many across the globe this coming year. This media spotlight on China is both a frightening yet exciting era in China’s development. The media can be used to demonise China yet it can also be used to glorify China. The Olympics have not yet begun, but the PR games are already here.
I wonder if anyone has any predictions as to how all this media attention will impact China and its domestic media industry? Will the media industry there be better for it in the long run? Does China know what it has got itself into?
No comments:
Post a Comment