We spent our today immersed in media. Getting to ask Chinese journalists about their experiencing about working in the media — both print and broadcast– was very interesting. What struck me most about our conversations today was how passionate the women were about their jobs. There was not even a remote sense of criticism about the condition of the media in China today. We talked at length about an issue being focused on in the media recently; a terrorist attack in China being referred to with quotations around it on CNN, offending the Chinese in a profound way. Our lecturer at the newspaper made the point that the U.S. is wary of calling the incident a terrorist attack because of its disrespect of the condition of other countries. She mentioned that the U.S. would not stand for another country doing the same to them. This prompted me to ask the women at the news station about the representation of Muslims in the media. The responded that Chinese media keeps a fairly neutral view of Muslims as a group even when reporting on world issues. They also mentioned that make documentaries about ethnic minorities in China, including Muslim groups in the western part of the country, to educate the general public on new communities. They mentioned that the government supports these endeavors and is in favor of highlighting the diversity in China.
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Tags: China, Journalism, Public Media, Shanghai