Isabelle Oderberg
China's faltering free press
Many Australians haven’t heard of the Chinese business and finance magazine Caijing. But a large number of investors, including some in Australia, have benefited from its journalism. One of the few Beijing-based publications not under state control, Caijing is one of China’s most independent news sources.
It made its name uncovering major share price manipulation scams in 2000 and 2001, as well as numerous exposés on government corruption. It was the only independent media working to uncover details on the arrest of Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu when the news of his detainment broke in July. State-owned local media, in stark contrast, was sitting on its hands, more or less waiting for government information handouts, fulfilling its role of being mouthpieces of the Communist Party.
When Huang Guangyu, owner of China’s biggest electricals chain Gome Electrical Appliance Holdings and one of the country’s richest men, went missing last year, it was Caijing that revealed he had been arrested and was being detained for suspected insider trading. It was also the first business publication to demand that its journalists not take hand-outs or gifts from the companies they write about – an accepted practice in Chinese media circles.
Reports are now indicating that earlier this week, most of Caijing’s staff walked out of the magazine. There are now rumours swirling about the magazine’s future and that of its managing editor Hu Shuli – a pioneer of the high-quality, unbiased journalism rarely seen in China. Western media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, are reporting that around two-thirds of the 100 staff of Caijing tendered their resignations earlier this month and that Hu has secured a publisher to set up a new magazine. Caijing’s English-language website is carrying a statement denying that any of its staff have resigned.
In the 11 years that Hu has been in the driving seat at Caijing, she has been named by the Financial Times as one of the most powerful commentators in China. The Wall Street Journal listed her as one of the 'Ten Women to Watch in Asia'. And she was the winner of Harvard University’s Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism in 2007.
If it is true that Hu is planning to set up shop and continue her brand of real, integrity-driven journalism, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief, but this is one situation that anyone with investments in or other exposures to China should be watching very closely.
In an interview with Business Spectator earlier this month, former BHP Billiton China boss Clinton Dines said that in discussions about China’s progress towards a more free and open society, much emphasis is given to what China doesn’t have in comparison with its Western peers, but that much progress has been made. This is one woman who has helped make it.
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