Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Getting it right vs getting it first
By Martin Guo |
December 14, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S media revolution struck a dissonant chord last week when the editor of a national magazine stepped down to take the blame for an erroneous micro-blog posting that claimed a famous Chinese novelist had died.
Liu Xinyu, deputy editor-in-chief and the new media head of China Newsweek, announced on his Sina microblog last Wednesday that he was resigning to "show that we are willing to be responsible for the mistakes we've made."
In fact China Newsweek's official Sina microblog was just one of many microblogs on December 6 repeating the rumor that Louis Cha, better known to Chinese kung fu novel fans as Jin Yong, had died in Hong Kong's St. Maria Hospital that day.
American humorist Mark Twain, upon learning that his obituary had been erroneously published in a New York paper in 1897, famously joked: "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
But it was no laughing matter at China Newsweek, which was trying to wipe the egg from its face. The erroneous report was quickly corrected, of course, but the damage was done. China Newsweek's microblog boasts more than 300,000 followers. The posting was also synchronized to its official page on Renren.com, where another 150,000 fans got the message on their homepages.
The editor who posted the "news" quickly removed it from both platforms and posted an apology to both Cha and readers. During post-resignation interviews, Liu said the posting was uploaded by an editor who was not on duty and "broke the story" onto the magazine's social network accounts without approval after she saw the item spreading across the Internet like wildfire.
Working in a similar job to Liu's, I had no difficulties in understanding the temptations that Internet sites face every day when dealing with so-called "breaking news" across so many new media platforms. These reports are hard to ignore because they're so accessible, influential and offer such instant feedback from readers.
Blog power
Journalists dealing with live-time news in the new media era are confronted with so many challenges. We face earlier and more frequent deadlines, giving us shorter time to verify facts when the competition is breathing down our necks.
It's widely recognized that if you have a blog with more than 1 million daily visitors, then you are literally running a newspaper. In that case, the top 10 "newspapers" in the world of Chinese microblogs are all published by people out of the traditional journalism circle. Of the 10 most-followed microbloggers on the Sina platform, eight deal with celebrities, one is written by a real estate tycoon and the other comes from a former sports commentator. Each of them has readership of at least 2.7 million fans.
Lost cause
For conventional news organizations, it's a lost cause trying to be the first to break news. CNN used to boast it was the leader in breaking news, but not anymore. Michael Jackson's death, for example, was first reported by the rather badly designed celebrity gossip website tmz.com.
Traditional media are also being usurped in the photo and film end of the business. Shanghai's local electronic bulletin board KDS had more and better pictures of the November 15 high-rise fire in the city than any newspapers in Shanghai. In the end, maybe the only valuable asset of news organizations like Shanghai Daily is our ability to provide news context - that is, making sense out of what's going on around us.
We have to bring dry facts to life, flesh out the human beings behind the news and connect the dots of isolated incidents. We need to give people the big picture and be careful to make sure that we are dealing with facts, not unfounded rumors or trite explanations.
It's often said that the most important thing in journalism is accuracy. Of course, accuracy can be open to different interpretations in a hyper-competitive environment, but a fact is a fact and a blooper is an embarrassment.
China Newsweek's reputation might have been saved if the offending editor had simply posted the words: "We're seeing a lot of postings saying Jin Yong has died. We're checking the story."
Many Chinese journalists say Liu's resignation was an overreaction. Liu said he fell on his sword to protect the front-line editor, who was fired anyway, and the new media content director under him, who resigned just ahead of Liu. So much for nobility.
This incident, to me, is a brutal reminder that we have to be alert and careful if we want to be a respected, serious contender in the new media revolution.
We need to tame the adrenalin rush that infects all of us in the online realm. After all, it's only the click of a button that separates us from triumph or disaster.
(The author is head of the New Media Department at Shanghai Daily.)
Liu Xinyu, deputy editor-in-chief and the new media head of China Newsweek, announced on his Sina microblog last Wednesday that he was resigning to "show that we are willing to be responsible for the mistakes we've made."
In fact China Newsweek's official Sina microblog was just one of many microblogs on December 6 repeating the rumor that Louis Cha, better known to Chinese kung fu novel fans as Jin Yong, had died in Hong Kong's St. Maria Hospital that day.
American humorist Mark Twain, upon learning that his obituary had been erroneously published in a New York paper in 1897, famously joked: "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
But it was no laughing matter at China Newsweek, which was trying to wipe the egg from its face. The erroneous report was quickly corrected, of course, but the damage was done. China Newsweek's microblog boasts more than 300,000 followers. The posting was also synchronized to its official page on Renren.com, where another 150,000 fans got the message on their homepages.
The editor who posted the "news" quickly removed it from both platforms and posted an apology to both Cha and readers. During post-resignation interviews, Liu said the posting was uploaded by an editor who was not on duty and "broke the story" onto the magazine's social network accounts without approval after she saw the item spreading across the Internet like wildfire.
Working in a similar job to Liu's, I had no difficulties in understanding the temptations that Internet sites face every day when dealing with so-called "breaking news" across so many new media platforms. These reports are hard to ignore because they're so accessible, influential and offer such instant feedback from readers.
Blog power
Journalists dealing with live-time news in the new media era are confronted with so many challenges. We face earlier and more frequent deadlines, giving us shorter time to verify facts when the competition is breathing down our necks.
It's widely recognized that if you have a blog with more than 1 million daily visitors, then you are literally running a newspaper. In that case, the top 10 "newspapers" in the world of Chinese microblogs are all published by people out of the traditional journalism circle. Of the 10 most-followed microbloggers on the Sina platform, eight deal with celebrities, one is written by a real estate tycoon and the other comes from a former sports commentator. Each of them has readership of at least 2.7 million fans.
Lost cause
For conventional news organizations, it's a lost cause trying to be the first to break news. CNN used to boast it was the leader in breaking news, but not anymore. Michael Jackson's death, for example, was first reported by the rather badly designed celebrity gossip website tmz.com.
Traditional media are also being usurped in the photo and film end of the business. Shanghai's local electronic bulletin board KDS had more and better pictures of the November 15 high-rise fire in the city than any newspapers in Shanghai. In the end, maybe the only valuable asset of news organizations like Shanghai Daily is our ability to provide news context - that is, making sense out of what's going on around us.
We have to bring dry facts to life, flesh out the human beings behind the news and connect the dots of isolated incidents. We need to give people the big picture and be careful to make sure that we are dealing with facts, not unfounded rumors or trite explanations.
It's often said that the most important thing in journalism is accuracy. Of course, accuracy can be open to different interpretations in a hyper-competitive environment, but a fact is a fact and a blooper is an embarrassment.
China Newsweek's reputation might have been saved if the offending editor had simply posted the words: "We're seeing a lot of postings saying Jin Yong has died. We're checking the story."
Many Chinese journalists say Liu's resignation was an overreaction. Liu said he fell on his sword to protect the front-line editor, who was fired anyway, and the new media content director under him, who resigned just ahead of Liu. So much for nobility.
This incident, to me, is a brutal reminder that we have to be alert and careful if we want to be a respected, serious contender in the new media revolution.
We need to tame the adrenalin rush that infects all of us in the online realm. After all, it's only the click of a button that separates us from triumph or disaster.
(The author is head of the New Media Department at Shanghai Daily.)
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