The decline and revival of investigative journalis...
Investigative reporting encountered unexpected resistance in the dawn of the 21st century. As Focus Interview became more and more inf luential, it came under grow ing pressure from local authorities and interest groups. Such pressure would translate into editorial directives suspending some broadcasts.
In a 2004 new s analysis, China Youth Daily stated that 47% of Focus Interview’s episodes were related to supervision by public opinion in 1998. The proportion dropped to 17% in 2002, the lowest ebb of the show. The article pointed out that the overall environment nurturing the supervision by public opinion was deteriorating, citing the hostilities of some local authorities towards the show’s reporters. [17]
But the decline of investigative journalism on national television doesn’t mean the end of the game. Unexpectedly, the breakthrough moment came in the form of a report on the contam inated baby formula m ilk powder scandal by Jian Guangzhou, a journalist from Oriental Morning Post, a Shanghai-based newspaper.
The toxic infant formula m ilk powder scandal triggered an overhaul of China’s dairy product industry 14 years ago. The media played a decisive role in exposing the industry’s long-hidden malpractice and compelling the authorities to work out stringent measures to upgrade the country’s food safety standards.
A t the center of the turmoil was Shijiazhuang-based Sanlu Group, one of China’s largest dairy companies. On September 8th, 2008, 14 infants under the age of one in M inxian County in northwest China’s Gansu Province were rushed into a local hospital for kidney failures and other symptoms. M ore sim ilar cases were reported on the follow ing days. One baby died. Doctors couldn’t figure out what caused these young patients’ pains. The parents said they had been feeding these infants on m ilk power produced by Sanlu Group.
When he learned of what happened in Gansu, Jian Guangzhou went to Gansu for a reporting trip. What he w itnessed at the pediatric ward of a Gansu hospital was a complete shock. He learned from medical experts that for children of such young age to exhibit kidney problems, if congenital deficiency was ruled out, the only possible source could be their food and drink. There m ight be some pathological links between their medical conditions and the m ilk power produced by Sanlu, the only food source thus far in their lives.
Jian’s trip to Gansu yielded a story under 1,000 words, published on Oriental Morning Post immediately after his return. The story proved to be an instant hit and national new s organizations like X inhua New s Agency republished it immediately. The reporter exercised great restraint throughout the article not to sensationalize the issue. He made sure all the details were accurate and refrained from accusing Sanlu squarely. He quoted medical experts’ analyses pointing to the possible links between Sanlu’s m ilk pow der and the babies’ symptoms, but avoided labelling the experts’ opinions as conclusive. This report was the f irst of its kind to name Sanlu openly, beating his counterparts from all national new s organizations.
The huge public concern prompted quality inspection authorities to step in.Sanlu eventually adm itted that some batches of its baby formula m ilk pow ders were contam inated by toxic melam ine components. Serious political consequences followed. The chairperson of Sanlu Group was sentenced to life imprisonment.The country’s quality supervision chief and Shijiazhuang’s party chief w ere removed from their posts for dereliction of duties. [18] The 11th National People’s Congress Standing Comm ittee approved the country’s new food safety law at its 7th plenary session on February 28th, 2009. The law took effect on June 1st the same year. [19]
Carrying the momentum of Sanlu reports, Chinese journalists concentrated their efforts on public service areas to carry on w ith investigative reporting. Riding the tide in the lead were the country’s print media p latform s, not TV stations predom inant in the 1990s and early 2000s.
A brief analysis about the first p rize hand-outs o f China Journalism Award, the country’s most prestigious annual press awards, corroborates such generalization.
Unlike the Pulitzer Prizes, Investigative Reporting is not a f ixated category of China Journalism Award. In the seven-year period from 2016 to 2022, 2018 is the only year that designated a stand-alone category for investigative reports on the list of First-Prize w inners. For most of the years, Features and In-depth Reports are the reserved category reserved for investigative reports and other long-form stories under 5,000 words.(https://www.daowen.com)
The 2022 awards list released in November breaks away from this tradition by giving features their own category and creating a new category for outstanding works in the f ield of supervision by public opinion. According to the A ll-China Journalists Association, reports subm itted to this new category should “focus on exposing existent societal issues, safeguard fairness and justice, and propel our time to progress. Reports in this category should be accurate and thorough in facts collection, objective and well-rounded, constructive, and facilitate the solution of realistic problems”. [20] This reads like a call for more entries of investigative works.
Tab le 1 The First-Prize awards of China Journalism Award in categories related to investigative reporting since 2016.
continued
IR stands for investigative reports in the table.
Source: The A ll-China Journalists Association
If the new category becomes a fixture, the move can be interpreted as encouraging media outlets to subm it more in-depth works related to public interests.It’s a clear call for investigative reporters to top up their games.
Further breakdown of the list show s that China Journalism Award gives out the First Prize to investigative reports in four of the seven-year period, in 2018,2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively. Four out of the six prize-w inning investigative reports focused on environmental protection, a clear favorite subject choice. The remaining two were about public heating disputes and equal treatment of privatelyrun businesses, also prom inent public service topics. These works were published by four different newspapers, one news agency and one radio station. No presence of TV station.
The 2021 w inning piece is a telling case o f investigative reporting on environmental issues. The piece is published on Economic Information Daily, a Xinhua News Agency aff iliate. In an investigation spanning two years, the reporter Wang Wenzhi explored how illegal coal-m ining in Qilian M ountains damaged crucial source waters on the upper reaches of the Yellow River and catapulted the owner of a local m ining company into the status of the “invisible wealthiest man” in Qinghai.
Disguised as a truck driver, M r. Wang sneaked into one of the com pany’s m ining f ields to w itness the digging procedures leaving gaping wounds on wetlands that can only be described as “ripping open the belly”. [21] To gauge the massive prof its that the company accumulates, Wang collected government tax reports over the years to corroborate coal production statistics leaked from insiders. Factoring in coal price f luctuations, he concluded that the company’s prof its from 2006 to 2014 exceeded 11 billion yuan or some 1.8 billion US dollars, despite the government’s repeated ban on any m ining activities in the area.