China saw new freedoms with TV quake coverage
Whether the relaxed grip on the media will last is unclear, analysts say. But the experience moved both nation and reporters.
CHENGDU, CHINA — From the moment the young man was discovered pinned under a mountain of concrete to the instant he died, TV reporter Zhang Qian fed live footage to viewers.
Zhang witnessed the trapped man look into the camera and pledge to live on for his loved ones. She watched as he cheered for the rescuers and, about five hours later, as he took his last breath.
Such media access might not be unusual in a country with a free press, but in communist China, where the state has a strong hand in controlling what people see and read, this view of life and death during an epic national disaster is practically unheard of.
"Never before have we shown a person go from living to death on live Chinese television," said Zhang Kaipei, deputy director of Sichuan Television's Channel 4, a news and information station in Chengdu. "It's a moving story. Our local audience also happens to be victims in this disaster. They have a right to know firsthand what is happening around them."
Media analysts say China has relaxed its grip on certain aspects of the press in recent years. Commercially driven arms of state media tend to operate with some freedom and are accustomed to producing human interest stories that appeal to viewers.
Still, media outlets from outside Sichuan province, foreign or Chinese, faced difficulties in reaching the mountainous epicenter of last week's magnitude 7.9 quake. At first the government ordered Chinese news organizations not to send reporters to the scene and to instead use material from state-owned CCTV or from the official New China News Agency. After many news organizations ignored the order, the government instructed journalists to stress unity, stability and positive stories.
Government officials this week have begun reining in the media after a period of relative freedom in reporting. For example, some hard-hit areas were declared off limits to journalists.
Zhang Kaipei, who is not related to the reporter, said Channel 4 had received no reprimands or new instructions from government officials. He said his main concern was staying ahead of his local and national competition.
At the 3-year-old station, about 150 reporters and camera operators, most without journalism experience when they were hired, began sending dispatches immediately after the quake hit. Some reported from the sides of cliffs to which they had hiked with rescuers after the roads washed out. Other dispatches came from inside helicopters or the tops of rubble.
