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.

On Global CAMG Media Group’s official website, Hodgkinson is referred to as “Andi Yu,” as in, “CAMG’s Andi Yu interviewed China Policy’s David Kelly during the PRC’s 18th National Congress in Beijing.”

So what we have is Andrea Hodgkinson giving her name as Andrea Yu to foreign reporters but who is known in China as Andi. Got it?

And just so there’s no doubt who we’re dealing with, here’s Will Cannon’s tweet from the official @CAMG_Media account:

https://twitter.com/CAMG_Media/status/268238591862394881

The question needs to be asked: what is this woman doing? We’re working off very limited information here, but so far, it looks like she’s ruining the career advancement prospects for all foreign journalists who’ve ever worked for Chinese media. Posing for a magazine cover — however tasteful — probably won’t endear her to most serious female reporters, either.

There’s an adage in journalism that one never wants to be a target of journalism. Yu/Hodgkinson is squarely in the crosshairs. How she reacts will probably determine whether she’s able to save the last vestiges of her reporting credibility.

There is a bright side for her, though. Should she choose, she can easily switch to being a bona fide, glamorous, well-compensated flack. There’s no shame in that, as long as pretenses get dropped.

UPDATE, 4:22 pm: “Will Cannon” is no longer the name associated with the CAMG Media Twitter account, and the above tweet, not unexpectedly, has been deleted.

Yesterday, while writing about an Australian reporter who had become somewhat of a Chinese Internet star because of her Mandarin-speaking ability, I was most struck by something she said in English. At a press conference inside the Great Hall of the People, she mentioned she was representing “Global CAMG Media International.” I googled that phrase and found no results on the first page. The closest match was “CAMH,” which is completely different. That should’ve sent up a red flag, instead of a yellow one. But this was still the early stages of the story, and the news seemed to be the question itself, not the identity of the questioner, so I went ahead with the post.

Well, one short day later, the focus is now squarely on the questioner. Her name is Andrea Yu, and it turns out she’s far from a journalist. She was first tracked down by China Real Time Report, to whom she admitted that she gets called on at press conferences because “they know my questions are safe.” Hmm. If your eyebrows aren’t yet raised, please turn your attention to her second interview, with Stephen McDonnell of Australia Broadcasting Corporation (via Shanghaiist), who cut her a lot less slack. Ms. Yu, meet a journalist:

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: Is it a little disingenuous for you to be up here I suppose with the appearance of being an independent international journalist when really you’re working for a Chinese company?

ANDREA YU: Yes, that’s a good question. It is interesting, and a lot of people have asked me about that. The fact is, I chose to be employed by them, and I’m representing their company.

So when I ask questions in press conferences and anything like that, I’m representing the company as well as representing Australia.

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: The company though, it’s controlled from Beijing, right?

ANDREA YU: Ah, well we do have a head office in Melbourne, so…

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: The majority shareholding is from Beijing – that’s right, isn’t it?

ANDREA YU: Ah, yes, yes that’s true.

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: Because I mean you could say that it’s as if the Chinese government has brought you up here as a sort of friendly journalist to essentially ask itself questions that it likes about its own performance.

ANDREA YU: Yes, you could say that, but you could only say that if you knew who my company was and we are fairly, I would say, not very well-known at this stage.

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: Here’s the Chinese government, they’re inviting someone up here – they know that you’re working essentially for them, and you’re coming up here and asking them questions about their own performance. Isn’t that right?

ANDREA YU: I really don’t know if I can answer that question accurately, the way you’re wanting me to answer it. I know you’re looking for a certain answer here, but…

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: I’m not looking for a certain answer, I’m looking for your answer.

ANDREA YU: No, my answer is that I think it’s a very large system and I honestly don’t believe that people within the Chinese government knew beforehand who I am and who I’m working for.

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: But is it real journalism, what you’re doing?

ANDREA YU: Um, I’ve only just started. I’m very new to this, so I’m learning as I go.

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: So you’re not quite sure if it is?

ANDREA YU: Ah, no, I would call it – I wouldn’t call it hard news, I wouldn’t call it that, OK, I’m not going to be kidding myself there, but I’m very glad for the opportunity that I’ve had to come here and learn what I have.

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: You don’t feel though, potentially, that you’re being used by the Chinese government to show that there’s something going on that really isn’t happening?

ANDREA YU: It’s something that I think a lot of foreigners have to think about when they come here. It’s also very difficult because…

STEPHEN MCDONNELL: But what do you think about it though? Do you feel that you’re being used in that way?

This goes on for a little while, and her answers don’t get much better, nor do McDonnell’s questions get easier. What we have here, in Yu, is a mercenary who embarrassed the wrong profession. It’s one thing for a Chinese company to hire a “white face” to do quality control in a factory out in the boonies, where no one will ask questions. It’s another for the Chinese government to employ a “white face” to lob softball questions at powerful people who deserve to be held to account. Political reporters — particularly foreign correspondents — are too cynical, too bitter, and too intolerant of bullshit to give fraudsters like Yu a free pass, and if they can’t ask questions of Chinese politicians, they’ll find other outlets for their withering inquiries. So it is that Ms. Yu, who by all accounts seems like a decent individual, had to be dragged through the grinder.

You know what, though? With all the publicity that CAMG has gotten, googling “CAMG Media International” now actually turns up a result. Its main office is at Jianguomen Wai, just down the street from the Great Hall of the People. Here’s its website, and the About section:

CAMG is a media star emerging out of Oceania, implementing media and cultural projects covering the entire Asia -Pacific region.

CAMG’s main area of development is the integration of media resources in Asia and Oceania, producing high-quality content for audiences of different countries in line with the local audience listening habits and tastes

Since their establishment in Melbourne, Australia on September 12, 2009, CAMG Media Group has been committed to building a cross-cultural bridge between nations and encouraging international trade. CAMG’s mission with their partners is to develop effective ways to facilitate cross-cultural exchange and to build well-known media brands.

After more than 2 years of development, CAMG Pty., Ltd. has built a strong international team of media professionals, using the most advanced and up to date hardware and facilities. Currently, the company has subsidiaries registered in New Zealand, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Nepal, as well as in a number of other countries.

These last two years of excellent growth are only just the beginning. CAMG is continuing to grow and step-by-step is building a world-class media brand.

UPDATE, 11/15, 12:26 am: Just saw that Eric Fish of Sinostand wrote about this too. I offer it here, including the following excerpt, as a counterweight to my sentiments.

Some of my experiences and those of several acquaintances at Chinese companies (not just media) were just like this. It’s not as if you’re told up front what your real job and unethical responsibilities will be. It comes in ways that aren’t immediately obvious and in steps so small that it’s easy to descend into something you’d never intended. What seem like opportunities (ie – covering the biggest political event in China) are in fact situations where you’re being exploited. By the time you look around and realize what you’re doing, you’re in too deep and it’s hard to climb back out without seriously disrupting your life.

Will anyone ask a question better than this 11-year-old's at the #18PC ? http://t.co/iT3GEobY

— Beijing Cream (@beijingcream) November 11, 2012

Turns out, nope — at least in terms of content. But on Saturday afternoon, one reporter attracted an equal amount of attention at an 18th Party Congress press conference. She stood up, took the mic, and asked a nearly minute-long question in Mandarin, and then wryly said, “I’ll translate for myself.” A few chuckles came out of the erstwhile catatonic crowd.

“I’m from Global CAMG Media International based in Australia,” she said. “The Australian government has recently released an important white paper on Australia’s relations with Asia in the 21st century. It discusses Australia’s relations with Asia over the next 25 years, particularly Australia’s relations with China. Mr. Zhang, please tell us what policies and plans the Chinese government will be implementing in cooperation with Australia. Xiexie, thank you.”

And then, National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zhang Ping, a native of central Anhui province, said in an Andre the Giant accent: “You speak very good Chinese.” Chuckle. “I understood everything.” (Or as the translator put it: “I can get your point properly.”)

UPDATE, 11:03 pm: The reporter’s name is Andrea Yu, and she was interviewed by WSJ’s China Real Time Report:

Ms. Yu told China Real Time, who says she has been called upon four times so far. She says her secret to being tapped is sitting in the same spot at every official meeting. She also credits her ability to make across-the-room eye-contact with moderators.

But there’s one more reason, she says: “They know my questions are safe.” Ms. Yu said her questions are pre-written by her Chinese colleagues and that she is not allowed to ask her own questions. “I’m representing a Chinese-Australian company, so I need to ask questions they want me to ask,” she said, adding: “Believe me, I would have other questions to ask if I could.”

With all due acknowledgements that this reporter’s Chinese is actually pretty good, we’d like to say there is, of course, a Laowai Comic for what happened, and that Laowai Comic is this:

Go visit his site already.