Television News in China - Not What you Think
By TIM HARRELL

No field reporters. No police chases. No news choppers hovering overhead.

Sound kind of boring?

That's Chinese television news....but it really isn't boring at all.

I recently visited my wife's family in Bejing for a week and had an opportunity to sample televison news--Chinese style.

I noticed some staggering differences....
There did not appear to be any field reporters.
Packages apparently were done by field producers and voiced by anchors, and you saw little or nothing of the anchor in the story.
No standups.
There was no "crime news" during the week I was there, and I am told there is little if any "crime news" on Chinese television.
To my surprise Chinese television rarely airs political reporting.
Most of the local stories were soft feature stories, like a health fair for youngsters, and agriculture was big.
I did not see any coverage of Chinese leaders, like you would see in America of the President or Congress. I had expected to see a lot of propaganda, but really did not.

There were soap operas that were just a racy as ours, and game shows that were just as nutty as ours and of course public service programming.
There were entertainment programs like Extra! and Access Hollywood. One of which profiled filmaker Steven Spielberg and the movies he had created.

I was even more suprised to see that during my entire stay in China, I saw only one story that I saw about the U.S. It concerned congressional debate over trade with China and there was one reference to the spyplane incident.

I am sure there is tragedy and sorrow in China, but it is not reflected on the 6 p.m. news like it is here.

About the Author

TIM HARRELL has spent nearly 30 years in journalism working for local radio , the Herald Examiner, City News Service and currently in Unit 13 at KCOP-TV. He has been nominated for four emmys and won several awards for stories he has written or produced.