Opinion: Why Yale Daily News’ claim to journalistic ethics is untenable
A group of student journalists from China argue that they should be allowed to publish under pseudonyms, if using their real names would put them or their families in danger.
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 we are publishing this anonymous opinion piece. 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 at news rooms throughout the world.
—Jeremy Goldkorn
An open letter to Yale Daily News from a group of Yale Students from mainland China and Hong Kong
We are deeply angered and saddened by the Yale Daily News’ refusal to publish a story on an on-campus vigil for the victims of the Ürümqi fire in Xinjiang. The fire sparked unprecedented nation-wide protests against China’s hard-handed COVID-zero policy. Chinese university students across the world, including at Yale, have organized vigils in solidarity. Last week, two Chinese international students from the Yale Daily News (YDN) attempted to publish a news report on the vigil at Yale without using their names, however, the editors refused. The editors of the YDN ignored their reporters’ serious safety concern about political retaliation from the Chinese government. From the beginning of the coverage planning, these two reporters repeatedly requested anonymity. However, they were told that they could not publish this news without their bylines after they had already finished writing and editing it.
In response to widespread criticism of this decision, the YDN published a statement to defend their decision on the basis of “journalistic ethics,” insisting that “without attributing a name to a story, there is no way for readers to hold reporters accountable.” The editors presented two “options” to the journalists: either “publish under their own names” or “turn over the story to another staff writer.” This statement has deeply concerned not only overseas Chinese communities but also senior journalists including Jin Ding, Chief of Staff at a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom, and Vicky Xu, a journalist known for exposing human rights abuses in China. These so-called “options” demand that the two journalists either endanger themselves and their families in China or lose their voices and career opportunities as reporters.
The YDN’s definition of “journalistic ethics” is an untenable excuse for their censorship. The YDN violated journalistic ethics by censoring a timely and professional coverage of an important event on campus affecting many Yale students when alternative approaches of ensuring accountability exist, such as offering rigorous editorial fact-checking and lending the publication’s credibility. YDN also breached journalistic ethics in falling short of their commitment to diversity by failing to take extra measures to ensure equitable reporting opportunities accounting for the unique challenges faced by the reporters facing authoritarian oppression and constant surveillance. Although the YDN offered opportunities for the two Chinese reporters to “fact-check” and “make suggestions” for the article that would be written by others, this certainly would not have guaranteed the inclusion of their perspectives and their equal opportunity of reporting. In their statement, the editors of YDN mentions that YDN’s Opinion stories in the form of op-ed allows anonymity. We have also learned from a student who criticizes the YDN’s decision that someone claiming to “have many friends in the YDN” reached out to them through private chat and said, “if these students want to advocate for the A4 movement without taking their own emotions and experiences off the table, they could’ve done so through an opinion piece that does not claim to be objective or unbiased”. However, such an important on-campus event deserves to be given the same weight and journalistic attention as any other Yale-student-led event and should not be funnelled into the category of an op-ed to be heard in seek of anonymity.
We urge YDN to uphold their commitment to diversity through the following actions:
- Make active efforts to protect the identities of the two Chinese international student reporters;
- Make public apologies on all of YDN’s platforms to the two Chinese reporters for silencing their voices and to the overseas Chinese communities for the emotional toll the YDN has brought in an already difficult time;
- Institutionalize granting anonymity to all the reporters who may face political retaliation for reporting on sensitive issues upon their requests, including but not limited to Chinese, Uyghur, Tibetan, and Iranian reporters;
- Invite the two reporters to anonymously publish their news report on the Yale vigil on YDN to set the precedent for future publications at YDN and beyond;
- Invite the larger Chinese community at Yale to meet with YDN’s leadership and staff; engage them in the conversation of how to best cover cover sensitive issues in the face of authoritarian regimes’ transnational repression.
U.S. media outlets carry extra weight when they are some of the only outlets for Chinese voices to reach the global, given China’s crackdown on press freedom. As a journalistic institution in the U.S. with an international readership, the YDN has the responsibility to amplify voices suppressed by authoritarian regimes. However, the YDN’s failure to do so reflects a lack of knowledge about the severity of China’s transnational political repression and a blanket application of a US-centric understanding of transparency to a context in which people face extreme danger to report and be reported on. The YDN must recognize that many Chinese citizens’ access to freedom of speech is highly restricted even when we are in the U.S. because our loved ones back in China are under CCP’s direct control and CCP has intricate means across the globe to monitor and harrass Chinese citizens. Therefore, extra measures of protection need to be taken to ensure truthful reporting on China.
When covering China, we urge the YDN to prioritize journalistic voices from reporters more familiar with China and make strict policies to protect the safety of their reporters and informants. We stress that no news is totally objective and all news comes with perspectives. Journalists can never be transparent conduits of information. Journalistic voices are not interchangeable. We are all too familiar with well-intentioned American journalists who lack context and publish ignorant and unsophisticated stories about us. Therefore, the YDN and other U.S. news media must be extremely careful not to filter Chinese voices through a U.S.-centric lens.
Without carefully protecting informants’ personal information and allowing nuances, some of these news reports have brought harm to the people being covered and exposed them to the CCP’s harassment. This is why reporters with a more intimate knowledge of China must be prioritized to ensure responsible reporting on China. In the case of the Yale vigil coverage, the Chinese international student reporters are better-positioned to bring out voices and nuanced details from the informants. Their positionality as victims of violence from the same regime helps to build trust with the Chinese informants. Also, because they are more familiar with the CCP’s repression and surveillance technologies, they are better equipped to protect their informants.
We want to take this chance to commend the two Chinese reporters for their persistence to inform the world of our fight and their courage to stand their ground. As of today, almost two weeks after the Urumqi fire, there has still not been any YDN news coverage about the Yale students who have been affected by it. Standing up against rising authoritarianism and the CCP’s transnational political repression, it is important for the YDN and other U.S. news media to take our concerns seriously. The YDN needs to critically examine what they mean by journalistic ethics. Respecting local and global readers means actively countering censorship, protecting journalists, and ensuring diverse perspectives in the journalism profession. We urge the YDN to learn from the solutions senior journalists have already offered them and fulfill their responsibilities of protecting their reporters’ safety and providing accountability of the news. We look forward to seeing the YDN’s actions to redress their wrongs. Yale Daily News, the ball is in your court.
In solidarity,
A group of Yale Students from mainland China and Hong Kong
December 3, 2022
