Chinese Media Spectacle on Discovery
Space shuttle Discovery is hype right now in China. Maybe, it is hype not only in China but all over the world since the day it launched to the space.
Yesterday, the media hype reached its peak by a live broadcast on 2 China central television channels (CCTV) out of 14 and 1 provincial channel out of 20 that I can receive. This hype is not over after the touching down of Discovery. 24 hours after the space shuttle and her crew returned to the Earth safely, CCTV-4, the international channel has another live broadcast on the shuttle’s return to Kennedy Space Center.
Maybe I should not be surprised at the media hype of Discovery in the age of media spectacle and the age of high technology. The media hype looks reasonable in the following senses: it is first trip to the space after the disaster of Columbia and the space mission itself.
The last time when the Chinese media carried live broadcast on a space mission is the launching and returning of China’s first space shuttle. As far as I can remember this is the first time do Chinese media paid such attention to an American Space mission. (Excuse me if I am wrong, for I spend several years in Europe and America). Never before did China media gave such space to an American space mission, so why Discovery?
The answer is thanks to the commercialization of Chinese media and the changing criteria of what is news worth. What is news worth? Scholars had the answer years ago, something which is negative, such as a conflict, a disaster, something related to important countries, important people, etc. Chinese news organization may not admit it and argue that they do not prefer conflict, negative things than positive events. But the truth is they are.
The journey of Discovery is not smooth. Its launching off was postponed. When it soaring into the blue sky, some pieces of debris were found falling from the ship. It is because of falling debris, the Columbia broke up as it attempted to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. During Discovery’s journey in the space, other safety problems were also discovered. Then the crew took actions to repair it, which is the first mending ever taken to a shuttle in the space.
It is those problems that push Discovery right into the center of the media hype. July 27, the day after Discovery soaring into space, one Beijing newspaper carried an astonishing headline: “Debris hit Discovery, no more return for the shuttle”.
It is threading to see a newspaper (not a tabloid one) jumps to that conclusion and use that sensational language. The headline is a tragedy for that newspaper, even the Chinese journalists as a whole. In the market competition, the newspaper has lost dignity as human beings. Nothing left in their heads but money. They forget everything about the objective news, the moral of journalists. Only one thing left: tragedy sells paper.
Let us think what would us, Chinese, think if an American newspaper carries a headline “Debris hit Chinese shuttle, no more return from the space”? Hurt? Angry?
Yes, that is the normal reaction. So how could the journalists and editors of that newspaper do that! It is not a normal media spectacle but more like clasping hands while others encounter a problem.
Commercialization is one thing, journalism code of conduct is another thing. No media outlets have the right to jump into such conclusion without any scientific proofs. Even if with proofs, it is still horrible to be happy towards others’ trouble.
Let’s hope this would never be repeated in the future.
Yesterday, the media hype reached its peak by a live broadcast on 2 China central television channels (CCTV) out of 14 and 1 provincial channel out of 20 that I can receive. This hype is not over after the touching down of Discovery. 24 hours after the space shuttle and her crew returned to the Earth safely, CCTV-4, the international channel has another live broadcast on the shuttle’s return to Kennedy Space Center.
Maybe I should not be surprised at the media hype of Discovery in the age of media spectacle and the age of high technology. The media hype looks reasonable in the following senses: it is first trip to the space after the disaster of Columbia and the space mission itself.
The last time when the Chinese media carried live broadcast on a space mission is the launching and returning of China’s first space shuttle. As far as I can remember this is the first time do Chinese media paid such attention to an American Space mission. (Excuse me if I am wrong, for I spend several years in Europe and America). Never before did China media gave such space to an American space mission, so why Discovery?
The answer is thanks to the commercialization of Chinese media and the changing criteria of what is news worth. What is news worth? Scholars had the answer years ago, something which is negative, such as a conflict, a disaster, something related to important countries, important people, etc. Chinese news organization may not admit it and argue that they do not prefer conflict, negative things than positive events. But the truth is they are.
The journey of Discovery is not smooth. Its launching off was postponed. When it soaring into the blue sky, some pieces of debris were found falling from the ship. It is because of falling debris, the Columbia broke up as it attempted to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. During Discovery’s journey in the space, other safety problems were also discovered. Then the crew took actions to repair it, which is the first mending ever taken to a shuttle in the space.
It is those problems that push Discovery right into the center of the media hype. July 27, the day after Discovery soaring into space, one Beijing newspaper carried an astonishing headline: “Debris hit Discovery, no more return for the shuttle”.
It is threading to see a newspaper (not a tabloid one) jumps to that conclusion and use that sensational language. The headline is a tragedy for that newspaper, even the Chinese journalists as a whole. In the market competition, the newspaper has lost dignity as human beings. Nothing left in their heads but money. They forget everything about the objective news, the moral of journalists. Only one thing left: tragedy sells paper.
Let us think what would us, Chinese, think if an American newspaper carries a headline “Debris hit Chinese shuttle, no more return from the space”? Hurt? Angry?
Yes, that is the normal reaction. So how could the journalists and editors of that newspaper do that! It is not a normal media spectacle but more like clasping hands while others encounter a problem.
Commercialization is one thing, journalism code of conduct is another thing. No media outlets have the right to jump into such conclusion without any scientific proofs. Even if with proofs, it is still horrible to be happy towards others’ trouble.
Let’s hope this would never be repeated in the future.
posted by Beaver at 4:51 PM
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