Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Journalism is the reporting of events and issues with the purpose of informing and educating a broad audience. This annotated bibliography will analyse the different sources of media and the various ways that they can analyse and report upon an event. The event that these articles will report upon is the current dispute between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal. The sources of media used are a Chinese national tabloid, an American online magazine and an International newspaper, all of which show both contrasting opinions and similar information traits.

De Burgh, H. (2010). Chinese Journalism and the Academy: the politics and pedagogy of the media.Journalism Studies, 1 (4), pp.549-558.

Hugo De Burgh is a British media theorist and the Director of the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster. He has specialised in the area of analysing investigative journalism in contrasting political cultures, such as that of China. This article evaluates the effect of the changing cultural climate in China upon the role of journalism in Chinese society. Chinese journalism has traditionally been viewed as an extension of the state’s ruling power. There has been a constant demand for media rights to be granted to journalists so that they may criticize contrast and report on current events according to a standardised journalistic code. This culminated in the Tianmen incident.  Since this incident Chinese journalism has shifted to be a more open medium which encourages the use of the free market and entrepreneurialism. This shift however does not indicate the lack of government influence over the media. Mr Gong Xueping, both the Dean of the Fudan University Journalism School and the Vice General Secretary of the Shanghai Chinese Communist Party, informed journalism students that while they had a right to report on anything they may see fit, there was little point in criticising the government system and that they should instead target the manifestations of the systems failures. This use of Chinese journalism can be seen in the vastly contrasting portrayal of the Chinese-Philippines island dispute in the Chinese media compared to western media.

Le, Z. (2012). Manila seeks to ‘lay claim’ over Huangyan with new name. Gobal Times, [online] 07 May 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/708105/Manila-seeks-to-lay-claim-over-Huangyan-with-new-name.aspx [Accessed: 19 Oct 2012].

The Global Times is a daily Chinese tabloid under the ownership of the Chinese Communist Party. Despite this ownership its claims that is does not necessarily voice government policy. The article reports on the current dispute between China and the Philippines over the ownership of Huangyan Island. The article attempts to position its audience to strongly favour the Chinese. It quotes Victor N Arches a supposedly Filipino man, whose credentials, if any, are not mentioned. He allegedly says “the Scarborough Shoal does belong to China which discovered it and drew it in a map as early as 1279 while the official maps the Philippines used to claim the area were dated 541 years later.” ( Zou, 2012).  This statement of course positions the audience to side with the Chinese argument however it cannot be considered a credible source as it remains completely unsupported by any tangible evidence. The article describes the initiation of the dispute between nations as the result of the Filipino navy attempting to capture Chinese fishermen. This article describes a very one sided version of the events that are involved in the dispute. As such it can be likened to propaganda rather than unbiased journalism. The result of this is that it cannot be viewed as a credible source to use for insight on the conflict between nations.

Carpenter, T. (2012) The Roiling South China Sea Dispute. The National Interest, [online] 10 July. Available at: http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/the-roiling-south-china-sea-dispute-7178 [Accessed: 19 October].

The National interest is a monthly online magazine published in the United States. It focuses on the US involvement in international affairs and as such takes a vastly different approach to the Scarborough shoal dispute than the article by the Global Times. The article criticises the actions of President Obama at an Economic Summit in Bali during November of 2011.  During the summit he aligned the US with the Philippines and promised to strengthen relations. The article describes these comments as implying level of involvement from the United States in the current dispute between the China and the Philippines. The article claims that the dispute must be resolved in favour of the Chinese to avoid an overwhelming hold being held over the South East Asia region by china. It warns however against the involvement of the United States in such a dispute because it could result in the aggression of the Chinese being spread upon both the Philippines and the United States. This article does not discuss the individual incidents in the dispute. This is because the National Interest is primarily concerned with the involvement of the United States in foreign affairs and as such is unconcerned with a dispute that does not involve them.

Mogato, M. (2012). Philippines, U.S. stage war games in face of China warning . Reuters, [online] 25 April. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/us-southchinasea-idUSBRE83O06220120425 [Accessed: 19 October].

This article is written by Manuel Mogato of Reuters. Reuters is an international newspaper renowned for its strict policy regarding journalistic objectivity. As such its article regarding the effect of the Philippine-U.S. war games on the dispute between China and the Philippines concerning ownership of the Scarborough Shoal takes an objective view of the conflict. The article gives details of the war games that were conducted by the Philippines and the US, despite warning from the Chinese that going forth with the games would increase the risk of conflict in the dispute. The article evaluates both Chinese and Filipino opinions as well as those of US representatives. It reports on the incident however does not at any point give an opinion nor a subjective insight into the events being reported upon. This reflects the distanced, international nature of Reuters. The inherent unbiased writing style makes this article the most credible source regarding the dispute.  It does not attempt to position its audience as does the article by the Global Times yet neither does it concern itself with the interests of a single involved nation.

References

Carpenter, T. (2012) The Roiling South China Sea Dispute. The National Interest, [online] 10 July. Available at: http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/the-roiling-south-china-sea-dispute-7178 [Accessed: 19 October].

De Burgh, H. (2010). Chinese Journalism and the Academy: the politics and pedagogy of the media.Journalism Studies, 1 (4), pp.549-558.

Le, Z. (2012). Manila seeks to ‘lay claim’ over Huangyan with new name. Gobal Times, [online] 07 May 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/708105/Manila-seeks-to-lay-claim-over-Huangyan-with-new-name.aspx [Accessed: 19 Oct 2012].

Mogato, M. (2012). Philippines, U.S. stage war games in face of China warning . Reuters, [online] 25 April. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/us-southchinasea-idUSBRE83O06220120425 [Accessed: 19 October].