A critical look at the media in the Shanxi kiln affair

Southern Weekend, after earlier look at the Shanxi brick kiln affair in detail, had a thorough look at the role the Chinese media played in this case. (Here translated by the China Media Project.)

Two things in particular concerning the media's handling of the Shanxi Kiln Affair are inexplicable. One is the shallowness of reporting. Much news in the case early on was slapped together from unverified popular rumors and Web chatter. Subsequent reports failed to go deeper into the heart of the story, generously yielding free space for the subsequent “authoritative” version [offered by officials]. Secondly, after the affair broke, the media quickly turned the focus of the news story, neglecting investigation of the enslaved workers and their families, and of the tyrannical boss and the power clique that protected him. The focus turned [instead] to officials and law-enforcement as they worked to clean up the situation. [See ESWN translation of Southern Weekend report here]

More details at the CMP.