2 ms·

> Meta-commentary: Sixth Tone is a propaganda outlet controlled by the Chinese government. So why are they running with this story? No they’re not. They’re jou

> Meta-commentary: Sixth Tone is a propaganda outlet controlled by the Chinese government. So why are they running with this story? No they’re not. They’re journalists living and working in China who publish pieces they don’t anticipate will get them shut down. They’re not going to cover the concentration camps in Xinjiang but it’s not an actual propaganda outlet like Xinhua. > What I think this all means is that Sixth Tone is trying to be a source for high-quality journalism on social issues in China while conveniently avoiding topics the government would like to remain unmentioned. It’s like they expect their readers to be intelligent people who can read between the lines.

Mirioron 8y ago
>It’s like they expect their readers to be intelligent people who can read between the lines. To put it bluntly: this is what state censorship does to news. Even if they wanted to do better, they can't, because they'll get shut down or punished.
yorwba 8y ago
Sixth Tone isn't directed at the Chinese market though, getting blocked by the government shouldn't be a problem for them, as SCMP proves. The difference is that SCMP is owned by Alibaba, while Sixth Tone is part of the Shanghai United Media Group, who are controlled by the party committee of Shanghai. The journalists might not think of their work as anything bad (宣传 doesn't have a negative connotation in Chinese, after all) and I don't think they'll publish outright lies, but they wouldn't exist if not to influence public opinion by countering the usually negative reporting on China with a more positive spin. That doesn't mean I advise against reading them (I did say that they publish high-quality articles, after all) but you need to be aware that they're not going to tell the whole truth.

2 ms·

> Meta-commentary: Sixth Tone is a propaganda outlet controlled by the Chinese government. So why are they running with this story? No they’re not. They’re jou

by barry-cotter 8y ago

Mirioron 8y ago
>It’s like they expect their readers to be intelligent people who can read between the lines. To put it bluntly: this is what state censorship does to news. Even if they wanted to do better, they can't, because they'll get shut down or punished.
yorwba 8y ago
Sixth Tone isn't directed at the Chinese market though, getting blocked by the government shouldn't be a problem for them, as SCMP proves. The difference is that SCMP is owned by Alibaba, while Sixth Tone is part of the Shanghai United Media Group, who are controlled by the party committee of Shanghai. The journalists might not think of their work as anything bad (宣传 doesn't have a negative connotation in Chinese, after all) and I don't think they'll publish outright lies, but they wouldn't exist if not to influence public opinion by countering the usually negative reporting on China with a more positive spin. That doesn't mean I advise against reading them (I did say that they publish high-quality articles, after all) but you need to be aware that they're not going to tell the whole truth.