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"The author is an Economics Nobel laureate and university professor at Columbia University." Are you implying the author is being used as tool of the China gov

"The author is an Economics Nobel laureate and university professor at Columbia University." Are you implying the author is being used as tool of the China government? Or that this isn't his original text and the "Propaganda Vessel" twisted his words? As for the China Daily and Shanghai Daily, I've read them regularly for close to 10 years and find the reporting to be mostly professional and many times more informative than U.S. mainstream reporting.

mseebach 17y ago
No, I'm implying that his message (which is political, not scientific in nature) fits the goal of the Chinese government very well. I don't for a second think that Mr. Stiglitz doesn't hold the beliefs that he expresses, but knowing that China does not, whatever the other qualities of the papers mentioned are, have a free press, it's a safe bet that a equally qualified author with the opposite view of Mr. Stiglitz would not have been printed.
- jhancock 17y ago
  I understand your general position. Your assertion that of course China would print it seems to make at least the following assumptions that in my experience are not correct: 1 - China is the borg, everyone, and especially everyone in the gov thinks alike. Not my experience, which is that inside various Chinese government groups, there exists a wide variety of opinion. 2 - China's news is heavily censored. A few topics are taboo. Sometimes a reporter/editor gets reprimanded or fired for crossing the line. But for the most part, there is plenty to report on that does not get censored. As to your general position that an opposite view would not have been printed, this may be true as it is true for many U.S. papers.
  - mseebach 17y ago
    1: I didn't think so. But there is only one party, and once the party settles on a policy, it pretty much stays that way, and debate is certainly not encouraged. 2: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily : China Daily, has a monopoly, being the only official English-language national newspaper in China.[...] Journalists practice a high degree of self-censorship at the paper. Subjects such as Tibet, Taiwan and Falun Gong [...] have to be approved by a higher authority before publication [...] One journalist working at the paper said, despite more openness in the media, "80 per cent of what we know we cannot report." The editor of the paper has told foreign editors that the paper's editorial policy was to support the policies of the Communist Party and only make criticism of the authorities if there was deviation from Party policy. Re. US papers - sure, but the U.S. (and other free countries) have competing papers and newsletters and even blogs. To frame it differently: I'm in China and I disagree strongly with Mr. Stiglitz. Free markets have done wonders for China and the policies backed my Mr. Stiglitz serves only to promote poverty. What do I do to voice my opinion? I write the editor of China Daily, and maybe I'm published. But maybe not, and maybe the next day I'm fired from my job at a large Chinese University. Maybe they tell me I'm a reactionary, maybe they don't, but suddenly I just can't seem to find a job in academia. Alternatively, if I'm not in China (which I'm not), I go on HN, and write my opinion. If I cared a bit more, I might write a blog entry or a letter to the editor of a newspaper I expect to find my view interesting. Whatever I do, my family and my self still have jobs tomorrow.

mseebach 17y ago

No, I'm implying that his message (which is political, not scientific in nature) fits the goal of the Chinese government very well. I don't for a second think that Mr. Stiglitz doesn't hold the beliefs that he expresses, but knowing that China does not, whatever the other qualities of the papers mentioned are, have a free press, it's a safe bet that a equally qualified author with the opposite view of Mr. Stiglitz would not have been printed.

jhancock 17y ago
I understand your general position. Your assertion that of course China would print it seems to make at least the following assumptions that in my experience are not correct: 1 - China is the borg, everyone, and especially everyone in the gov thinks alike. Not my experience, which is that inside various Chinese government groups, there exists a wide variety of opinion. 2 - China's news is heavily censored. A few topics are taboo. Sometimes a reporter/editor gets reprimanded or fired for crossing the line. But for the most part, there is plenty to report on that does not get censored. As to your general position that an opposite view would not have been printed, this may be true as it is true for many U.S. papers.
- mseebach 17y ago
  1: I didn't think so. But there is only one party, and once the party settles on a policy, it pretty much stays that way, and debate is certainly not encouraged. 2: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Daily : China Daily, has a monopoly, being the only official English-language national newspaper in China.[...] Journalists practice a high degree of self-censorship at the paper. Subjects such as Tibet, Taiwan and Falun Gong [...] have to be approved by a higher authority before publication [...] One journalist working at the paper said, despite more openness in the media, "80 per cent of what we know we cannot report." The editor of the paper has told foreign editors that the paper's editorial policy was to support the policies of the Communist Party and only make criticism of the authorities if there was deviation from Party policy. Re. US papers - sure, but the U.S. (and other free countries) have competing papers and newsletters and even blogs. To frame it differently: I'm in China and I disagree strongly with Mr. Stiglitz. Free markets have done wonders for China and the policies backed my Mr. Stiglitz serves only to promote poverty. What do I do to voice my opinion? I write the editor of China Daily, and maybe I'm published. But maybe not, and maybe the next day I'm fired from my job at a large Chinese University. Maybe they tell me I'm a reactionary, maybe they don't, but suddenly I just can't seem to find a job in academia. Alternatively, if I'm not in China (which I'm not), I go on HN, and write my opinion. If I cared a bit more, I might write a blog entry or a letter to the editor of a newspaper I expect to find my view interesting. Whatever I do, my family and my self still have jobs tomorrow.