Event Coverage Highlight

Left to right: Andrew Mertha, Ling Chen, Jodi Schneider, Li Yuan & Jessica Chen Weiss (Photo by Sandra Stevenson)

The Overseas Press Club and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington D.C. on Oct. 3 cosponsored two panels to discuss the challenges that journalists and academics face when researching and covering China.

Jim Steinberg, dean of SAIS, welcomed the audience, citing “the natural partnership and tremendous synergies and similarities between the work of what journalists do and what we do here at SAIS and in universities like Johns Hopkins.”  

Scott Kraft, OPC president and editor at large of the Los Angeles Times, praised the partnership and highlighted the “tremendous courage” of journalists working abroad. 

The first panel, Covering China from Within: Problems and Processes, moderated by Jessica Chen Weiss, director of the SAIS Institute for America, China and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF), brought together Li Yuan, reporter for The New York Times; Jodi Schneider, OPC governor and former Bloomberg political news director; and SAIS scholars Andrew Mertha and Ling Chen. The discussion centered on how shrinking access to China has changed both journalism and scholarship. 

Weiss framed the conversation around the need for humility and rigor when assessing China from afar, asking: “What are we consistently missing or getting wrong in today’s environment?”

Jessica Chen Weiss (far right) Li Yuan, Jodi Schneider, Ling Chen and Andrew Mertha (far left)

Li Yuan urged reporters to move beyond geopolitics, saying coverage often “swings from demonizing China to glorifying it,” and called for “a more truthful portrayal” that includes both the hopeful and difficult sides of the country. 

Schneider underscored the steep decline of press access to China and Hong Kong, stressing that the best journalism is done in the field, “when reporters go to these places, build sources, and see things for themselves.” She added, “If you’re not on the ground, what we don’t know will only grow greater.”

Chen noted that scholars, too, struggle to understand China’s intentions, “I think the biggest weakness is that we lack an on-the-ground perspective to understand why certain actors behave in certain ways and what their intentions are.” Mertha agreed, saying scholars are getting increasingly reliant on the more easily available data that China is releasing. “As a result, it biases and distorts what we know, by us not really being able to go into what we don’t know. So that’s something; it’s been a perennial problem but it’s just gotten worse.”

The second panel, Right Sizing China, America and the World: New Frontiers, moderated by Edward Wong, diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, featured James Areddy of The Wall Street Journal, Shawn Donnan of Bloomberg News, Margaret Myers of the SAIS Institute for America, China and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF), and Jeremy Wallace of Johns Hopkins SAIS. The panel explored how limited on-the-ground access shapes global understanding of China’s foreign and domestic policies.

Edward Wong (far right), Shawn Donnan, Jeremy Wallace, Margaret Myers, James Areddy (far left)

“We can all agree that reporting and researching China and China’s role in the world was very different before 2020,” Wong said. “Since 2020, roughly in line with both the greater tensions in geopolitics between the US and China, as well as the pandemic, things have changed dramatically for both journalists and scholars.”  

Areddy described the on‑the‑ground disruption and its consequences, “In early 2020, we started to hear about some kind of bug in Wuhan and I had a chance to go down to Wuhan and see the government trying to keep something quiet.” 

“By March 2020, I was told by the Chinese government that I was expelled,” he said. Now, reporting on China from the United States, he finds his sources “not as chatty. You can’t easily speak with even government officials in the way that you could before.”

Donnan noted how China has worked hard to manage its global image, which has had an effect on the willingness of sources to work with journalists. “I feel like we have this completely different China that is much more confident going out into the world and yet, very cautious. It protects its image incredibly carefully and that really hits us on a day-to-day basis.”

Myers emphasized the need for more resources for academic researchers as well, “What is missing largely is that ability to engage as extensively as I had in the past with a network of many scholars.” 

Wallace offered advice when analyzing China: “Something that I think is really important for China scholars and journalists to think about is not just to think about China as a funhouse mirror of the United States or as a competitor of the United States, but to take China on its own terms.”

Panelists pointed to new forms of remote reporting and research, from independent newsletters like Sinocism to satellite and data-based investigations. Still, they agreed that no tool can replace human contact.  

Together, the discussions underscored a shared concern: as access tightens and narratives harden, nuanced reporting and research are more vital than ever before.  

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