Comments on: How Do You Feel About China’s English-Language News? Let People’s Daily Know!

By: Jonathan Alpart

Jonathan Alpart — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 05:10:43 +0000

Can we drop the cynicism here? Sure, it’s China Daily, but this seems to be a huge step in the right direction. Even if people who work there are desperately aware of the paper’s shortcomings, they’d be hard-pressed to speak up because of the whole “face” thing. But an anonymous survey? Who is going to sugarcoat that? Anyway, I just think it’s fascinating that they are even asking these questions. Even comparing their article with a BBC one on such a controversial issue? I think that is deserving of some applause, even if it’s just the sound of one hand clapping.

By: PD

PD — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:26:00 +0000

Only foreign unpersons were allowed to participate, so they didn’t need to eliminate specifically students.

By: Some Guy

Some Guy — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 06:57:42 +0000

They don’t care about that part of the survey. My wife was involved in an online survey for China Daily a few years back (it was run by a major foreign market research company that she worked for at the time). They asked all the right questions, but the only information they were really interested in was reader demographics to show to potential advertisers. The rest is just bait.

Vaguely relevant story about that survey: after the first few days, an overwhelming majority of the responses were Chinese university students, rather than the wealthy foreign executives they would have preferred. China Daily’s solution? Turn the first page of questions into a screening stage, discard anyone who is both Chinese and a student, and publish the final results without mentioning they did this. AC agreed and certified the results rather than lose the client.

By: Jeff Crosby

Jeff Crosby — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 05:06:22 +0000

Could this perhaps be a move by someone in the bureaucracy to prove that the papers need less intervention by propaganda authorities to gain acceptance abroad?

Either that, or we’ll see a Fox News-esque write-up soon claiming that “105% of respondents agree that China Daily is fair and balanced.”

By: narsfweasels

narsfweasels — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 04:52:51 +0000

I certainly gave them my “feedback”.