Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who was arrested and jailed in China three years ago, has released her first public statement describing the harsh conditions of her imprisonment and how much she misses Australia.
The warning signs are all there. It's no coincidence that China has become more belligerent as their economy has faltered, they are a dictatorship and they need to divert the attention. Expect more of the same or even dialled up a notch or two as stagnation becomes long term.
Second I wouldn't say being a journalist in China has any prestige. Certainly not any investigative journalism there. You're just told to say what you're told to say, you can pick some random person off the street for that, I mean how hard is that? Would her "experience" mean much outside of China? It's like a person having 10 years experience but never moved beyond the duties of a graduate.
Third she could have gone to Taiwan. If she's struggling to get a job in Australia (I assume due to language abilities?) Taiwan speaks her native language so she would fit right in there and not be in this predicament.
But the end of the day they target us because we can't do anything to counter it. Americans would probably lock up a Chinese citizen on trumped up terrorism charges as leverage whereas Australia doesn't.
Maybe but that makes it even more perplexing why she would go. It's not like she would do any actual journalism there like I said. Being told what to say rather than telling the truth isn't really journalism.
How is that a mystery? She is bi-lingual and was born in China. And yes, she did do "actual journalism" there - she worked for CNBC for nearly a decade.
Ok so she's bilingual. But I still refute that she did much journalism. Sprouting propoganda and operating in a censored environment isn't really journalism in my books. She had no editorial independence.
Edit: I think someone here put it better than me. She's a propagandist not a journalist.
The warning signs are all there. It's no coincidence that China has become more belligerent as their economy has faltered, they are a dictatorship and they need to divert the attention. Expect more of the same or even dialled up a notch or two as stagnation becomes long term.
Second I wouldn't say being a journalist in China has any prestige. Certainly not any investigative journalism there. You're just told to say what you're told to say, you can pick some random person off the street for that, I mean how hard is that? Would her "experience" mean much outside of China? It's like a person having 10 years experience but never moved beyond the duties of a graduate.
Third she could have gone to Taiwan. If she's struggling to get a job in Australia (I assume due to language abilities?) Taiwan speaks her native language so she would fit right in there and not be in this predicament.
But the end of the day they target us because we can't do anything to counter it. Americans would probably lock up a Chinese citizen on trumped up terrorism charges as leverage whereas Australia doesn't.
You really need to do the bare minimum of research on this person. It is highly likely she has better "language abilities" than you.
Maybe but that makes it even more perplexing why she would go. It's not like she would do any actual journalism there like I said. Being told what to say rather than telling the truth isn't really journalism.
How is that a mystery? She is bi-lingual and was born in China. And yes, she did do "actual journalism" there - she worked for CNBC for nearly a decade.
Ok so she's bilingual. But I still refute that she did much journalism. Sprouting propoganda and operating in a censored environment isn't really journalism in my books. She had no editorial independence.
Edit: I think someone here put it better than me. She's a propagandist not a journalist.