Weary despair

It brought a tear of nostalgic familiarity to the eye of this old China hand to read of Thomson Reuters’ pledge to honour and support the defenders of “our” country. How well that statement rhymed with President Xi Jinping of China who in 2016 demanded that the media must act as if it had the same “surname as the Party.” “They must embody the Party’s will, safeguard the Party’s authority … their actions must be highly consistent with the Party.” To which various state media responded: “Our surname is ‘The Party’, [We are] absolutely loyal, Ready for your inspection.”

Having spent decades explaining, educating, exhorting, and insisting on the distinction between a news agency like Reuters and a state-owned Party-loyal news organisation, I feel a certain weary despair that a statement signed without deep thought or analysis could cause so much damage to the cause. ■