Beijing's media damage control

How China managed the message after the Yangtze ferry disaster; plus, a look at the face behind the news, the anchorman.


A ferry capsizing on the Yangtze river in China, killing a reported 431 people, has become a case study in how Beijing manages the news media when disaster strikes.

Shortly after the news broke, journalists got their orders from Beijing, telling them not to travel to the scene, to base their coverage on official press releases and to rely on state-run news platforms for updates. The results were clear from the coverage - news outlets published the same photos, painted the same picture and stuck to the same script, reporting the story Beijing's way.

But controlling information in the digital age is far from easy, even in China.
Talking us through the methods and the limitations of China's media disaster management are: Jason Q. Ng, research fellow, The Citizen Lab; Sam Geall, editor, China Dialogue; Qiao Mu, associate professor, Beijing Foreign Studies University; and Li Hongwei, managing editor, The Global Times.