Editor’s note for Monday, December 5, 2022

My thoughts today:

Journalists who write about repressive countries face ethical conundrums that are not obvious to editors who have not lived outside of liberal democracies, or places where the right to free speech is not constitutionally enshrined. The biggest of these is that critical coverage of authoritarian governments can result in real trouble for journalists, bystanders, and people quoted in news stories, or people whose photographs are used by photo editors. (See, for example, this recently published guide for media organizations to minimizing harm when it comes to use of photographs of people protesting in China.)

The rules for journalism that guide many Western news organizations and that are taught at journalism schools are often wholly unsuited to the needs of reporters who work in countries where the profession can be dangerous. And that means that sometimes anonymity must be granted to journalists and their sources.

It is unfair for media organizations to place the burden for dealing with potential danger solely on the journalists. It is in fact the duty of editors to ensure that the stories they publish are accurate, fact-checked, and fair. A big part of an editor’s job should be to earn the trust of readers and viewers.

Which is why today we published an anonymous opinion piece by student journalists at Yale University who wanted to cover protests against COVID curbs for their student newspaper, but were refused because the editors did not agree to hide their identities.

As editor-in-chief of The China Project, I can vouch that the people behind this open letter are Yale students, and that their worries about using their real names to write about protest movements involving Chinese citizens are very real.

Yale Daily News needs to make its own decisions, but this open letter raises a serious issue that merits discussion, not only at Yale but also at news rooms throughout the world.

Our word of the day is pen name (笔名 bǐ míng).