Don’t mention the trade war: what China doesn’t want people to know in its dispute with the US
‘You can’t use trade war in your headline’, one media source says, as censors seek to control the way the dispute is reported
China’s censors are scrambling to control the narrative about the trade war with the US by giving the media a list of dos and don’ts when reporting on the topic, sources have said.
Four separate sources working for Chinese media, who were briefed on these internal instructions, told the South China Morning Post that they were told not to “over-report” the trade war with US and be extremely careful about linking the trade war to stock market falls, the depreciation of the yuan or economic weakness to avoid spreading panic.
“When you report a fall in the stock market index or a weakening in the yuan’s exchange rate, you can’t use ‘trade war’ in your headline,” one source with an official Chinese media outlet, who declined to be named, said.
A separate source said China’s control of public discourse about the trade war, an issue too big to be ignored completely, has gone beyond a white-or-black approach and aims to be more subtle.
“Different media organisations were granted different levels of leeway in covering the trade war,” the source said.
State media outlets with a higher political ranking are allowed to publish news and editorials about the trade war, while local media and internet news portals are often told to republish what state media have already published and not to overplay the issue.
For instance, publishing an instant translation of what US President Donald Trump has posted on Twitter – a site that is banned in China – may be seen as an offence, the source said.