The China Daily, for those unfamiliar with it, is a slim English-language daily that produces interesting, sometimes humorous (both intentionally and unintentionally) bits of news about China. It’s also owned and published by China’s Communist Party, though that shouldn’t lead people to jump to the conclusion that it’s a propaganda paper. The China Daily–partly because of its language medium and partly because of the presence of foreigners on its staff–has much freer reign than that label would suggest, occasionally coughing up real news gems. Though the paper certainly has its limitations on what it will report and how well it covers certain issues, it’s also a good English-language source for lots of daily information about China that, sadly, often gets dismissed out-of-hand.

But the China Daily (CD) does have its handicaps, most of which revolve around editorials and opinion pieces. One, appearing today by John Coulter, which CD announces in bold font “is an independent researcher from Australia, currently living in Beijing” might be a good example. Here’s an excerpt:

Enjoy the sports but also learn from China

A person’s involvement in the Olympics can be overwhelming and a major memory for the whole life. From medalist to TV audience, enjoy and be excited and emotional.

But Olympic years are milestones in history, and the 2008 Beijing Olympic year will be remembered centuries on. This is a chance to savor a big historical picture and understand where our world is headed. China can give direction to the world.

Savor the fact that China is a developing country to host the Olympic Games. China can show it has “caught up” with West, and in selected fields, surpassed it.

…

Compare the drama of hurricane Katrina and the Sichuan earthquake – the government response, community response. After Katrina a refugee raped a refugee in New Orleans stadium. Policemen unable to enforce order and common sense handed in their badges in droves. The federal government was paralyzed with bureaucratic infighting.

No doubt China played the media differently, but they showed the premier on site within hours, soldiers selflessly serving, even a policewoman breastfeeding orphans…

The rest of the article goes on to do a historical “critique” of the “Western model of development… [where] all the goods produced [by China] are done so at a net increase of ‘bads’.” As historical evaluation goes, this part of the article is pretty contextually repellent, not to mention downright unsupportable, at points.

Sigh… another apparently credential-less Westerner voicing the Chinese government viewpoint using rhetorical language. The question is, given the occasions of decent reporting (or, at least, of English translations of decent reporting) in China Daily in the past, why do they still print shlock like this?
Yes, this is an opinion piece and, yes, it is a state-owned paper but, still, CD has an editorial board filled with people (some of which seem to care about journalism): can’t they seek out more sophisticated and nuanced articles? Spouting the party line, after all, isn’t that bad, as long as it’s put out in a logical, coherent way.

Of course, it’s hard to chastise an institutions when one doesn’t have a sophisticated knowledge of its people and environment. Some things are getting better, but need time. Maybe that’s the case with CD but the point still is this: decriers of biased Western media reporting on China, like the China Daily, would have a lot more currency if they would just raise their basic reporting standards.

A bridge not trustworthy enough to cross, sadly.