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I see what you mean. As a minor addition: The major national / international journalism orgs, such as the NY Times, CNN, etc., still have them. The NY Times pu

I see what you mean. As a minor addition: The major national / international journalism orgs, such as the NY Times, CNN, etc., still have them. The NY Times publishes a Chinese-language edition. https://cn.nytimes.com/ https://cn.nytimes.com/

alephnerd 3y ago
> major national / international journalism orgs, such as The NY Times Barely. The NYT's Beijing bureau has maybe 10-11 people total, of which only 4-6 are actually editors and journalists, and half of them are Westerners. Most of the China related content is made in their HK outpost which itself only has like 13 reporters and editors, of whom almost all are Westerners. Most of their China sourcing comes from their parntership with the SCMP for printing and publishing the NYT in Mainland China and HK [0], and most of NYT's China and HK staff are concurrently employed by the SCMP. It's a similar story in their Russia (4-6) and India (4) bureaus. These numbers are barely enough to report on a small town, let alone federalized countries in the hundreds of millions or even billions Even the NYT depends on unnamed freelance reporters to source stories. The person who's name is on the byline basically stitched the research the freelancers did for them. It's the same story for WaPo, CNN, BBC, Guardian, WSJ, etc. For anything Asia, I prefer reading Japanese, Singaporean, or HK sourced business news as organizations like Nikkei/FT, Straits Times, and SCMP have a massive presence across Asia, and built networks since the 1970s when Japan began it's "Flying Geese" policy. [0] - https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-international-new-york-times/ https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-interna...
- wolverine876 3y ago
  Thanks for the indside knowledge. Are you in that field? > SCMP Do you still believe in them? They must comply with CPC at this point, I expect. > The person who's name is on the byline basically stitched the research the freelancers did for them. When I read about the NYT coverage of sexual violence on Oct 7, the story said a NYT reporter had two locals doing the legwork. Maybe that's efficient, but I'd think an experienced, high-skill reporter would find things that the freelancers might not. In the past I looked hard for quality English non-Anglo journalism. It's tough anywhere; most news is of course in local languages and I also want high-quality journalism that fits my priorities (e.g., not the local mayor's scandal) - not a criticism of local journalism, it's just my narrow requirements. There were some good independent ones in the mainland in the 2000s but it seems nobody can be independent there anymore. Sinocism is pretty good, but it's written by a westerner and they left Beijing years ago.
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    > Are you in that field? Not anymore but I am friends with people who have climbed up the ladder of business journalism to Bureau Chief or Editor. > Do you still believe in them? They must comply with CPC at this point, I expect. I recognize where the biases may lie. I steer clear of op-eds, but I'd still trust it for non-controversial domestic news. Chinese language media can actually get quite heated in their opposition. So long as you don't advocate the overthrow of the CCP and make sure your criticism has a "constructive" tone, Chinese reporting is good enough. Who knows if that somewhat openness will exist in the next 5-10 years though. For example, Russia in 2019 was way more open a society than Russia in 2024. I just cross validate with friends who still live there and work there. > I'd think an experienced, high-skill reporter would find things that the freelancers might not Imo, sourcing and recognizing what is a story and what isn't matters more, and you don't need someone at NYT doing that when freelancers are clearly equally as competent. > quality English non-Anglo journalism Reuters, Axios, Politico, and a couple niche trade papers and regional papers are more than enough. NYT's Washington Bureau is on point though and I can attest to that, but Politico sources way faster and gives more internal details.
    - wolverine876 3y ago
      Thanks again. I miscommunicated it seems: by "quality English non-Anglo journalism" I meant quality journalism from perspectives outside the Anglo sphere (UK, US, Canada, Australia, NZ). Examples, though not necessarily current: The Hindu (India), Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post (Israel), ... Egypt had an explosion of them, but it's become a repressive state. The East African in Kenya is/was pretty good.
      - alephnerd 3y ago
        There's no point reading non-Western English language news if you don't know the owners and their biases. If you think political connected oligarch ownership of media is bad in the US, wait til you see Israel, India, Africa, ASEAN, etc. I just go straight to a handful of top think tanks and friends of mine who work in those markets if I want information. Personally, it's all useless tbh.

alephnerd 3y ago

> major national / international journalism orgs, such as The NY Times Barely. The NYT's Beijing bureau has maybe 10-11 people total, of which only 4-6 are actually editors and journalists, and half of them are Westerners. Most of the China related content is made in their HK outpost which itself only has like 13 reporters and editors, of whom almost all are Westerners. Most of their China sourcing comes from their parntership with the SCMP for printing and publishing the NYT in Mainland China and HK [0], and most of NYT's China and HK staff are concurrently employed by the SCMP. It's a similar story in their Russia (4-6) and India (4) bureaus. These numbers are barely enough to report on a small town, let alone federalized countries in the hundreds of millions or even billions Even the NYT depends on unnamed freelance reporters to source stories. The person who's name is on the byline basically stitched the research the freelancers did for them. It's the same story for WaPo, CNN, BBC, Guardian, WSJ, etc. For anything Asia, I prefer reading Japanese, Singaporean, or HK sourced business news as organizations like Nikkei/FT, Straits Times, and SCMP have a massive presence across Asia, and built networks since the 1970s when Japan began it's "Flying Geese" policy. [0] - https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-international-new-york-times/ https://corp.scmp.com/scmp-enters-printing-deal-with-interna...

wolverine876 3y ago
Thanks for the indside knowledge. Are you in that field? > SCMP Do you still believe in them? They must comply with CPC at this point, I expect. > The person who's name is on the byline basically stitched the research the freelancers did for them. When I read about the NYT coverage of sexual violence on Oct 7, the story said a NYT reporter had two locals doing the legwork. Maybe that's efficient, but I'd think an experienced, high-skill reporter would find things that the freelancers might not. In the past I looked hard for quality English non-Anglo journalism. It's tough anywhere; most news is of course in local languages and I also want high-quality journalism that fits my priorities (e.g., not the local mayor's scandal) - not a criticism of local journalism, it's just my narrow requirements. There were some good independent ones in the mainland in the 2000s but it seems nobody can be independent there anymore. Sinocism is pretty good, but it's written by a westerner and they left Beijing years ago.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  > Are you in that field? Not anymore but I am friends with people who have climbed up the ladder of business journalism to Bureau Chief or Editor. > Do you still believe in them? They must comply with CPC at this point, I expect. I recognize where the biases may lie. I steer clear of op-eds, but I'd still trust it for non-controversial domestic news. Chinese language media can actually get quite heated in their opposition. So long as you don't advocate the overthrow of the CCP and make sure your criticism has a "constructive" tone, Chinese reporting is good enough. Who knows if that somewhat openness will exist in the next 5-10 years though. For example, Russia in 2019 was way more open a society than Russia in 2024. I just cross validate with friends who still live there and work there. > I'd think an experienced, high-skill reporter would find things that the freelancers might not Imo, sourcing and recognizing what is a story and what isn't matters more, and you don't need someone at NYT doing that when freelancers are clearly equally as competent. > quality English non-Anglo journalism Reuters, Axios, Politico, and a couple niche trade papers and regional papers are more than enough. NYT's Washington Bureau is on point though and I can attest to that, but Politico sources way faster and gives more internal details.
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    Thanks again. I miscommunicated it seems: by "quality English non-Anglo journalism" I meant quality journalism from perspectives outside the Anglo sphere (UK, US, Canada, Australia, NZ). Examples, though not necessarily current: The Hindu (India), Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post (Israel), ... Egypt had an explosion of them, but it's become a repressive state. The East African in Kenya is/was pretty good.
    - alephnerd 3y ago
      There's no point reading non-Western English language news if you don't know the owners and their biases. If you think political connected oligarch ownership of media is bad in the US, wait til you see Israel, India, Africa, ASEAN, etc. I just go straight to a handful of top think tanks and friends of mine who work in those markets if I want information. Personally, it's all useless tbh.