The scene, 11pm.
Today isn’t a good time for being overly cautious or downright coward as Shanghai’s media scene is known to be. When a major disaster, like today’s giant fire breakout in a residential highrise on Jiaozhou Road of Jing’an district occupied much of the city’s attention, the absence of live TV news coverage from Shanghai’s one and only TV group, the Shanghai Media Group was a telling tale. On Dragon TV’s 6pm Evening News, nearly four hours after the fire broke out, SMG’s coverage came after commercial break, following around seven rubbish stories like the city’s CCP chief Yu Zhengsheng visiting Xinjiang or the upcoming Expo Auction. Meanwhile, live pictures have been circulating around the Internet through every means possible, let alone the fact that you can smell the fire and see the smoke from every part of downtown Shanghai. Now a question to the city’s propaganda bureau, do you really think this is something you can play down?
But they managed. Yes they did. The city missed a perfect chance to show its people that unlike some other places in this country, Shanghai is capable of telling the truth in a difficult time. The fire might be an accident, a tragic one, but the following media blockage isn’t, albeit being equally tragic. The official press conference, scheduled around 6pm was canceled, and at 10pm, rumor started to circulate that Shanghai Propaganda Bureau sent out a memo to the city’s official media, telling them to “immediately stop live coverage, simplify the description, and ‘are allowed to’ play down the casualties and injuries.” In turn, when Xinhua announced at 10pm that 42 died in the fire, just anyone and their grandmothers have a hard time to believe the number is true. Truth is, at 11, we were on the scene, witnessing more dead bodies being lifted out to ambulances, which came in with sirens on, drove out with sirens off. But can we really anticipate the number rising? In fact, hours went by since Xinhua’s number jumped from 12 to 42. We wonder what took them so long.
Now almost 10 hours after the fire broke out, we don’t have an official list of victims. We don’t have an official number of how many were injured. The only names we know who lived in the building came from personal accounts on Microblog and elsewhere. A 70-year-old woman with a mentally disabled brother are still missing. A Shanghainese historian lost his lifelong collection of archives in his home. We don’t have an official statement, not a quote from anyone involved. Not a single news outlet is doing comprehensive analysis of the aftermath of the fire, such as how to deal with the losses, both in property and human lives. As far as we can tell, insurance claims and settlement disputes can be massive. But today, all we get to know is that former vice mayor of Shanghai Meng Jianzhu, now the head of Chinese police department chief is coming down to Shanghai from Beijing, claiming credits, we can only assume.
We are not even going to join many to blame the city for the tragic accident today. The scaffold covering the exterior of the building, which caught fire and led to the inferno was there to install an “eco-friendly” energy-preserving coat for the building. Some say the material itself is very easy to catch fire, and it’s unclear who thought up the idea of coating the building at the first place. The city’s fire safety is miserable, a fact we just don’t think about any other day in our lives. But these issues, we have tomorrow to argue. There is likely not an easy scapegoat. What we can’t wait is to know the truth when it happens, which the city’s mainstream media absolutely failed to deliver today.
Granted, it’s also true that this city’s residents have long given up hope in the city’s mainstream media. People’s trust issue with the government and its throats have become so clear today, that people resorted to each other, not the news media for news. We are here to say this, a major shake-up is inevitable. How our Shanghainese media run things have to be changed. We roughly remember the days Shanghai TV and Oriental TV were still competing, before they were made into one and the same thing. And the city’s daily newspapers used to be more daring than now, not that they were ever all that. There is a lesson to be learned today, that when the government has asses to be covered, the media don’t, and they ought to stand up against pressure and show some professionalism, before no one trusts anything the media do anymore, and the result of that can’t be good for your government bosses either. Let them know that.
Need we say, Shanghai is cynicism capital of possibly the world. People can laugh things off but can’t be fooled. Forget your entire plan of blindfolding the middle-aged middle class. They are even tougher cookies than us, when time comes.
20 Comments
> capable of telling the truth in a difficult time
Is this a virtue? Or a luxury?
Tell the truth is a sin and a crime, just like wanting the truth. Truth has no place in a fast growing country of 1.3 billion people. What if all 1.3 billion wants the truth ? What can the government say ?
For the first time of my life I felt so fucking ashamed of the place I was born in. Sad fact is that we are actually nothing different.
Fortunately, Chinese are quite different from the rest of the world. Chinese are exceptional, extraordinary, and special. No one can tell the truth like Chinese can.
Clealry a western writer
I think the Chinese PR machine works well for disasters affecting far flung rural areas in Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai. But when the shit hits the fan closer to home, it is harder to put on a positive spin.
Where was the PLA human ladder rescuing people off the roof of the building?
JS, we are different. The leadership in Shanghai have been mostly replaced with outsiders, as the locals are too threatening to the national order.
Shanghai is relatively advanced, but it’s still China. A “Clueless Chinese Journalism” tag? Well, what else can (standard, cleared-for-publishing) Chinese journalism be?
Turns out Shanghaiist does read you after all. Well, Dan does: http://shanghaiist.com/2010/11/16/quote_of_the_day_shanghais_massive.php
Well after we had that “thing” with them, we think they can’t help “loving” us…..
“Need we say, Shanghai is cynicism capital of possibly the world.”
Sigh.
Not really sure what Shanghai’s big role is in distancing itself from the 外地 Chinese Media– that’s Hong Kong’s job.
Who said so?
In any case, Guangzhou is the most courageous media town in the country. Beijing, Chongqing, Changsha all have more daring reporters than here. Shanghai’s media condition is not better, but one of the worst in the country. We are not even talking about nationwide media, which Shanghai has virtually none. We are talking about popular metro daily newspapers and TV channels, which make a lot of money in this town, who have the responsibility to report this city, but never fulfill it.
This city is never known for its ballsiness.
Why does Shanghai need any nationwide media ? The world begins and ends in Shanghai ! Just like the world ends in Boston on the banks of Charles River.
For the first time in my life I felt so fucking helpless.Some are burning,others are enjoying Asian Games.Still,others are indifferent.
I am not at all saying that Shanghais mediacoverage was correct. Media should inform and it seems they did not do that correctly. WIth my VERY limited knowledge of Mandarin, I am not to judge ..
But …is it so much worse than the boundless sensationalism that the western media preach?
I agree. Everybody understood what a huge scale desaster was taking place. What’s the point in getting everyone into a frenzy by non-stop showing live pictures on tv, possibly speculating about the cause while it is way too early for that?
Video recording of yesterday’s DragonTV 6pm News Coverage on Jing’an Fire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeBzaHcNFGU
Video recording of today’s coverage is being uploaded. Please be patient.
Video recording of DragonTV’s 6pm News Coverage on the aftermath of Jing’an Fire:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwoI_GYo-cM
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb11zBQOY74
Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISK6Hw4NUvw
Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWjr4IOiv44
Shanghai may look advanced and modern but underneath all that shiny decor its all just hot air.
Shoddy Fire Safety standards sums up how short the chinese have come and how far they still have to go.