“Watchdog” is not a word one usually associates with the Chinese media. For the uninitiated, journalists in China serve the propaganda interests of the state; they avoid any politically sensitive subjects; and if they are not facing censorship from the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party, journalists routinely engage in self-censorship and search for “safe” stories to cover.
David Bandurski and Martin Hala have edited a stunning book which challenges the stereotyped image of journalism in China and demonstrates that despite the pressures they face, some journalists—working as “loners without institutional support” (p. 6)—are committed to a style of reporting that confronts political authority, often at incredible personal risk. Journalists are still paid piece rates for the number of words published, so they are deterred from pursuing stories that may be censored or perhaps may not be printed at all by the financial consequences of doing so. At the same...
