Abstract
This chapter focuses on the meso-organizational level and examines Chinese journalists’ reflections on objectivity and constraints in war zones. The author adopts the term Chinese-style pragmatic objectivity to mean that objectivity is a convenient approach for Chinese journalists to do war journalism in the field. At the level of objectivity-as-a-value, objectivity is defined as a pragmatic value and a practical ritual for Chinese journalists to do news within the scope they can reach and to justify their version of the truth. It promotes allegiance and patriotism. At the level of objectivity-as-a-practice, objectivity in war coverage is compromised by China’s foreign policies, military constraints, the press’s political orientations and editorial polices, and journalists’ personal experiences and values.
An earlier version of this chapter was published in Zhang, S. I. (2015) ‘Chinese-style pragmatic objectivity in war reporting’, Asian Journal of Communication, Volume: 25, Issue: 02, pp. 178–196. copyright © AMIC/SCI-NTU, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd, www.tandfonline.com on behalf of AMIC/SCI-NTU., v1.8. Licence number: 3726440980369.
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Zhang, S.I. (2016). Objectivity and Constraints in War Reporting. In: Chinese War Correspondents. Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1738-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1738-4_3
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