Malaysia Airlines triggered a global news war, and the Chinese media was defeated and severely injured

Malaysian Airlines triggered a global news war, and the Chinese media were defeated and severely injured It is about the wealth and lives of 154 Chinese people. The truth about the Malaysia Airlines incident has been repeated many times until now...

It is about the wealth and lives of 154 Chinese people. The truth about the Malaysia Airlines incident has been repeated many times until now, and it has finally been gradually revealed under the pressure of the Western media. In this process, the Chinese media has once again exposed its weaknesses in professional media literacy and professional ethics, triggering dissatisfaction and reflection in the public opinion circle. It was even ridiculed that "Chinese media has three treasures: forwarding, candles and prayers." Professional media outlets including General Xu Jingbo, president of Asia News Agency, and public opinion members have written articles criticizing the performance of the Chinese media. It is true that the decline of Chinese media seems to be largely attributed to the Chinese Communist Party’s public opinion system and national strength, but this is not enough to excuse it.

At a regular press conference held in Malaysia at 17:30 on March 17, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin admitted that "there is still relevant information that has not been disclosed." This statement confirmed a series of previous speculations by Western media. In fact, as early as March 15, when Malaysian Prime Minister Najib responded urgently to Western media revealing that the missing Malaysian Airlines flight was far more than a simple plane crash, the Chinese media was "indulged" in paying attention to the aftermath and reporting on the families of the victims that seemed tragic but actually indifferent, gradually showed signs of disappointment. Moreover, in this race between the Chinese media and the world’s media in the rounds of “revelation”, the only missing figure is the “exclusive information” of the Chinese media in the country where the 154 Chinese nationals on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight are located.

The confusing incident surrounding the missing Malaysian Airlines flight has indeed caused media outlets around the world to experience a smokeless news war. The performance of the Chinese media has also attracted much attention because of the presence of 154 Chinese among the passengers of the missing flight. What we have seen is that the Chinese media were indeed on the front line of the Lido Hotel where the families of the missing passengers were accommodated, and they were also on the front line of the Malaysia Airlines press conference at Beijing Capital Airport. However, most of their reports were either limited to what was said at the press conference, the expressions of the family members, the performance of the spokesperson and the person in charge, etc., or they were intoxicated with superficial sensationalism and "expressed their feelings" in the newspaper grid. As for the real questions, such as "Is the missing passenger plane a hijack or an accident?" "Did the missing passenger plane land or break up in the air?" "Who planned the missing passenger plane? Passengers or crew or others?"... These news reports in the Chinese media have become "according to CNN reports", "Reuters' latest news said", "The New York Times revealed"... In other words, apart from standing at the press conference and taking photos of the captain's grieving family at the airport, the Chinese media "have done nothing of value".

Asia News Agency President Xu Jingbo analyzed the reasons for the failure of the Chinese media in his article "Why the Chinese Media Failed in the News War on the Malaysian Airlines Flight". Reason one: Chinese media does not have a strong data intelligence network. Most of the revelations from the British and American news media came from the military, satellite companies, and intelligence agencies. However, Chinese media obviously cannot be so pervasive. Xu Jingpo said that the Chinese media formed under Chinese politics have always grown in passivity and have become accustomed to this model. "They have lost the ability to take the initiative. In other words, "listening and conveying" has become a profession, while "digging for news" has become a taboo. This is destined to make China's central media a pampered princess. Not a hawker looking for a living."

China Central Television revealed in a telephone connection on March 16 that there was a very suspicious passenger on MH370: born in China, educated in Turkey, taught in the UK for two years, and went to Switzerland to learn about aircraft engines. However, this "suspicious person" appeared only the day after the incident, which was too late. Prior to this, the Western media had already turned their attention to the hijacking and the more suspicious captain and co-pilot. Public opinion questioning this undoubtedly highlights CCTV's passive attitude of following people and being led by the nose.

A media person said in a chat among friends that since the Malaysia Airlines incident, his route has been the Lido Hotel, Beijing Capital Airport, and press conferences, and this route does not include newspaper offices. If there is a situation such as the cancellation of the press conference on March 15, this photojournalist friend can only run to the cafe with other media colleagues to "use the free WiFi", and then ask each other, "Do you have any revelations there?" They respond in silence, and then add, what is the "latest news", and these "latest news" often come from British and American media, such as CNN, BBC, Reuters, and the New York Times. 》…….Then they smiled awkwardly at each other, “Of course, everyone knows,” and then changed the subject.

The second reason cited by Xu Jingbo is that the Chinese media does not have expert reporters and is eating “young people.” Xu Jingbo gave an example, the New York Times mobilized 30 senior reporters to form a reporting team one day after the Malaysia Airlines missing incident on March 8, and wrote as soon as possible 18 reports and analysis articles were published. Xu Jingbo said helplessly that the subsequent evolution of events proved the strength of British and American news giants such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, the BBC, and the Financial Times. From satellite data to communication records, from flight trajectories to flight times, one by one was obtained and exposed one by one. Although Malaysia denied it time and time again, in the end it could not contain the fire. In the Prime Minister's Notes on the 15th At the press conference, many facts reported by the media were admitted.

Looking back at the Chinese media, on March 13, the Legal Evening News published "Direct Attack: Five major doubts point to Malaysia Airlines returning to Malacca." The wording in the article was "Malaysian officials have released 14 statements, but the French Evening News reporter combed and found that "there is the latest news," according to the "Wall Street Journal"... March 17 "China Youth Daily" in its article "Four Major Suspicions Point to the Captain of the Missing Flight" stated that "CNN said on the 15th that the US intelligence agency" and "the influential British major newspapers "Mirror" and "Daily Mail" both reported on the 16th. "According to the British "Daily Telegraph" reported on the 16th. The Malay Mail reported on March 14 that "...it was found that the "analysis" and "doubtful points" were actually just "interpretations" of previous media reports. There was no "exclusive" and no "new ideas", and there was no need for Malaysia Airlines or Malaysian officials to "recognize" or "confirm" anything. It seems that the Chinese media have become "followers."

In fact, the Chinese media is such a "failure" This phenomenon is not unique to the news war caused by the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines. Before Chinese officials had yet to clarify Zhou Yongkang's case, Hong Kong reporters raised Zhou Yongkang's "sensitive issues" at the first press conference of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on March 2, and the Chinese mainland media showed a "weakness"; at the press conference of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on March 13, there was "harmony", and the Zhou case that the media paid attention to was silent. The Chinese media kept silent, but the foreign media did. He was first "greeted" by the press officer of the conference affairs team and was explicitly asked not to raise the issue of "you know" (i.e. Zhou Yongkang). If he crosses the line, he will be blacklisted and foreign journalists will not be given work visas in the future. The New York Times reporter posted on Twitter, complaining that the press secretary said "you know" at the beginning of the two sessions, but "didn't understand anything" at the end. Another American reporter lamented, "There is no Kunming, no Zhou Yongkang, no Tibet, the Chinese Prime Minister's press conference, the news is dead." "

Luo Changping, the former deputy editor-in-chief of Caijing magazine who dared to report Liu Tienan, the former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, with his real name, commented that CCN, the Associated Press, Reuters, the New York Times, etc., who watched the missing Malaysian Airlines, basically monopolized the right to publish key information and formed counter-evidence against Malaysia, thereby piecing together Relatively complete information flow. In this sense, China does not have a truly international media, so it naturally cannot provide core information sources. In the information age, the so-called big country, as well as soft power, should also have an international media portfolio. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Perhaps it can be said that "you know", the amount of information covered is so large that "you can't really understand it."