Reporting On China Gets More Challenging: NYT Head

The international head of The New York Times said news coverage in China is becoming more challenging for journalists – and the situation is not expected to improve with President Xi Jinping set to stay in power possibly much longer.

Speaking in Hong Kong, Stephen Dunbar-Johnson said people are missing out on important and interesting developments on the mainland because of Beijing's tight grip on the media.

Currently, the New York Time’s Chinese-language site is blocked in China and Dunbar-Johnson says there is no indication that it would be unblocked anytime soon. He described the heavy media censorship as a “great shame”.

“There are so many interesting things to report out of China. The whole One Belt, One Road strategy, social change … these are hugely interesting stories for a global audience,” he said.

“And there are also other fascinating stories happening out of China in terms of emerging technology which we won’t be able to report to the world about, and this is interesting for mankind, not just for the Chinese community. There’s huge innovation coming out of China, there’s China’s position on climate”.

Commenting on US President Donald Trump naming The New York Times for the “first place” in his "fake news awards", Dunbar-Johnson warned that the US leader’s repeated attacks on the media are "dangerous" to independent journalism.

But he also revealed that Trump’s comments actually helped boost the paper’s subscription rate.

“His attacks on media have made readers appreciate that high quality independent media is an increasingly rare and precious commodity”, he said.