Comments on: Stephen McDonnell Gave Andrea Yu, Star Bilingual “Reporter,” A Firsthand Lesson In Journalism, And It’s Not Pretty

By: Blonde Ambition: How Xinhua Used A International “Reporter” To Intercourse Up Its Propaganda | That's Beijing - Beijing and China News

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 03:26:44 +0000

[...] by a company with a majority shareholding in Beijing, to ask pre-scripted softball questions. The ensuing controversy saw Yu being dragged through the grinder before ending up down an absolute wormhole of soft-power [...]

By: ni hao

ni hao — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 23:24:57 +0000

I don’t have evidences for it, nor do you I suppose. I stand on my ground saying that “even though Andrea is presenting herself as an incompetent journalist, I cannot say that she is fake.” I was just talking to my friend (a cameraman) who had attended to many similar national “meetings”, and from her past experiences, the employers handle the application process. The “government” will know who you are and who you work for, but not who you really are. She works for CCTV by the way. You can say my evidence is biased because she works for CCTV, but present to me yours. FOX news is a little more honest isn’t it, where personal beliefs are a little more important than evidences.

By: Hong Konger

Hong Konger — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:45:17 +0000

I am a Hong Kong journalist with many friends at state-run media, though I would never work in mainland media myself.
I am not Western, nor does one have to be to see that what Andrea did was vastly dishonest.
And, more importantly, that this incidence shows how very dishonest the majority of state media is.

Don’t know what FOX has to do with this, except that it’s the typical 50-cent argument to throw in some irrelevant bit of criticism of someone else to change the subject.
First, for all of FOX’s faults, I’ve never heard of them planting a fake reporter in the White House.
Second, even if they did, that still doesn’t make this right.

And, yes. This was clearly planned by the government. Maybe not the top tier. But the propaganda officials had to step in to make sure that she was accredited (falsely), to pre-vet the questions (which she admits to), to make sure she sat in the exact right seat, and to make sure the MC called on her four times.

By: X

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:20:18 +0000

Not sure what the ‘actually Hodgkinson’ stuff is about – you might find her legal name is actually Yu.

By: ni hao

ni hao — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:01:53 +0000

Yes, I’m not a native english speaker, and I apologize for not checking the errors before I posted. Also, you are right about the fact that I don’t look at things from a western lens, because I don’t think it is the best view. I try to find a balance. I said I am a little more qualified because I worked with people who are in high positions within Chinese media, such as CCTV news, and others. Again, sorry for the grammar and spelling errors. Being too emotional on the internet is never a good thing. Let me gather myself and say that, Andrea was just a poster girl and it could have been anyone. My point is, state news (the big ones) are in China are just as fake as Fox News, and I guess I’m trying to defend Andrea because although she’s not a good reporter, she shouldn’t be criticized for simply “not being true to herself.”

By: Dingles

Dingles — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:17:42 +0000

When someone claims they are a little more qualified to comment on Chinese media than others, it’s usually useful to present those qualifications to back up said claim. Although, spelling relevant as “revelenat” and faults (or failures) as “falurs” grossly undermines your claim. That, combined with your poorly worded examples simply highlights your inability to grasp the criticisms from a western lens. Or perhaps you work for the Global Times, or another Chinese run English news source, which would explain just about everything you wrote.

By: ni hao

ni hao — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:47:23 +0000

“You don’t have to be a political scientist to know that the news is manufactured in China.”
You are manufactured to have that idea. I can say this because I think I’m a little more qualified than you to comment on Chinese media. You think the CCP have all the time in the world to pick out this one good looking white female to ask questions? I do think though the question she asked was not revelenat, but does that make her a bad person? Yes she might be a bad journalist, but would you give up a chance like that if you were in her shoes? “Hey, Hong Konger, whatever your profession is, you have a chance to perform.” “Oh yeah sure.” I don’t think you will say “oh well, I don’t think I deserve this chance.” You think the CCP just goes around to ask for international celebrities to model for their image? Yes, but they do not care who you are. What real questions could you have asked? Why can’t you operate within the system and still be great like Mo Yan? And no, I’m not entirely supporting the system of China, I do think many falurs and errors are there. But critcism of a amateur reporter isn’t going to help. Thought she fucked herself over in that interview.

By: foolin

foolin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 23:13:06 +0000

Fooling the Chinese people for money shouldn’t get sympathy from anyone. Have western “journalist” or laowais lost all their morals?! Shameful!

By: KopyKatKiller

KopyKatKiller — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:33:10 +0000

Another step towards world media domination?

Anyway, I think it’s funny because anyone worth their weight in salt knows the CCP is a bunch of lying scumbag Chinese. Such ‘measures’ as duping doe eyed Western chicks into thinking they are anything but CCP shills will only come back to bite them in the ass. I’m sure that for every one of the ‘newly converted’ to the CCP cult, there’ll be at least a half dozen or more who take it upon themselves to expose what a bunch of evil bastards China has running the circus. BeijingCream is already proof of that.

By: Foreign Reporters With Chinese Characteristics | ChinaGeeks | analysis and translation of modern China

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:59:25 +0000

[...] this has been hashed out in the press and in blogs, but the discussion has mostly centered around Yu herself and her ethical and journalistic [...]

By: Michael Woodhead

Michael Woodhead — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:56:24 +0000

Feel some sympathy for Andrea Yu (I worked for China Daily once upon a time), but this is a worrying sign of things to come. China is hiring non-Chinese reporters at a time when hundreds of journalists are being made redundant in western countries. It’s not just China doing this – I’m seeing a lot of former journalist colleagues moving into PR and “sponsored” media roles for corporations and agencies.

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:27:25 +0000

Personally, I feel like the really newsworthy thing here is that Beijing is using media organizations abroad in a soft power play. We can only speculate about Andrea’s motives, but the amount of money and effort required from the Chinese government to set up a system like this is no mistake. That said, we have all come to expect this sort of thing from China. Releasing a story every day about how news is manufactured, money is used to skew coverage, etc…becomes repetitive. It just gives you a lot of built up anxiety, disappointment, and anger (really, a grab bag of bad feelings) that unusual incidents cause you to release. That’s why netizens human flesh search individual corrupt officials with a ton of watches, or hate Fang Binxing so much. In truth, they’re (corrupt) humans with serious failings, but they are symptomatic of larger problems that people feel powerless to address.

In my opinion, it would behoove us to hold our governing bodies and institutions to the highest standards, because they exercise power over our lives. We should be sympathetic to individuals, though, because people are human.

By: » Woman Of The Hour, Andrea Yu, Is Actually Andrea Hodgkinson, Magazine Cover Girl Beijing Cream

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:07:49 +0000

[...] This story just gets more interesting by the minute. Via @fightcensorship, we’ve learned that Andrea Yu will be appearing on the cover of the November 16 issue of Oriental BQ Weekly Magazine. The red letters read: “Australia watches the 18th National Congress,” and on the second line, “Andi,” which is the Chinese rendering of Andrea. “Hodgkinson” is Yu’s real (given?) surname. [...]

By: Hong Konger

Hong Konger — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:31:14 +0000

Sorry, guys. But you have more sympathy than I do.
There are only two possibilities here
* She clearly knew she was being planted as a fake reporter
* She is really not smart.
And I’m going to give her this: I don’t think she’s this stupid.
Even giving her the benefit of the doubt: She’s inexperienced and her company didn’t brief her. Come on. Who stands up in front of all the TV cameras at a huge press conference, during a major political event in China, is clearly the only foreigner being called on while major media are passed over, recites pre-written pre-vetted questions, and has absolutely no idea that she might be being used.
Maybe she’s not exactly an expert in journalist ethics. Maybe she didn’t expect to be questioned so aggressively about it. But she clearly calculated that whatever she was getting out of it — money, job, prominence — was worth doing something less than honest.
You don’t have to be a political scientist to know that the news is manufactured in China. And she was happy to benefit from this “manufacturing”.
I can’t imagine she cares for the profession. If she did, she would have declined, or she would have used that opportunity to actually ask a real question.
Will she “be just fine”? Who knows? Maybe she will find great fame in mainland state media as the Mandarin-speaking foreigner who is willing to lob softball questions at press conferences. Maybe she’ll make it in another profession.
But if she wants to succeed in real journalism? She’s just turned herself into an international laughingstock.

By: The Tao

The Tao — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:26:21 +0000

I dunno, you’re assuming she (or her company) wasn’t in cahoots with the media relations officers to begin with. And she is, after all, in the big leagues, where everything is deservedly amplified, including criticism. If she cares about the profession at all though, she’ll come out of this stronger and will be just fine.