 |
 |
Jim Walker, Chairman, Credit Lyonnais South Asia
Tom Mitchell, Guangzhou Bureau Chief, South China Morning Post.
Alkman Granitsas, Senior Writer, Far Eastern Economic Review
Mark Nelson, Senior Operations Officer, The World Bank
"One of the things we find is that development doesn't
really happen unless there is a flow of information."
"Freedom of the press and control of corruption are very interrelated."
In a round table discussion, panellists agreed that one of the biggest stories of the region is being largely overlooked – the massive economy that is centred in the southern Chinese provide of Guandong, bordering Hong Kong.
In fact, only three foreign newspapers – the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun of Japan, and the United Morning News of Singapore – have correspondents in the provincial capital of Guangzhou.
"It's pretty lonely. Only three foreign correspondents in all of South China, said Tom Mitchell, the Guangzhou bureau chief for the South China Morning Post. "The Guangzhou Foreign Correspondents Club is very small."
But the story is very big and "it really doesn't get as much attention as it deserves," he said.
About 30 percent of foreign direct investment in China goes to the southern province and has been in the range of 10 to 12 billion dollars a year – "that's an amount that many Southeast Asian countries would be ecstatic if they could land," he said.
Mr Mitchell had praise for local Chinese reporters
covering the same issues. "We don't give enough credit to the mainland
press. I wouldn't know where to begin if the mainland press didn't do
such a good job covering sensitive issues. … They do a lot more than
most people appreciate."
Mark Nelson,
Senior Operations Office,
The World Bank
|
Other Congress Summaries World
Press Trends: Newspaper Growth Continues Covering
China: Business and Financial Reporting Reinventing
the Newspaper Company: Case Study |
Mr Mitchell had praise for local Chinese reporters covering the same issues. "We don't give enough credit to the mainland press. I wouldn't know where to begin if the mainland press didn't do such a good job covering sensitive issues. … They do a lot more than most people appreciate."
Alkman Granitsas, a Senior Writer for the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong, added that another major story that is overlooked is the international garment trade, which he called "boring sweatshop workaday business" that is nevertheless a massive industry.
"When most overseas readers and editors think about Hong Kong, they thing about two things – property speculation and the banking industry," he says. And although that is understandable, more attention should be paid to "telling foreign readers where their clothes are made" and the stories behind those clothes (labour issues, investment, pollution, etc.).
Meanwhile, Mark Nelson of the World Bank talked about the impact on free and independent journalism on development: "one of the things we find is that development doesn't really happen unless there is a free flow of information," he said.
The Bank, therefore, has been encouraging the development of independent journalism in country's where it does business. "Freedom of the press and control of corruption are very interrelated," he said.