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Many say their hearts break for Haze Fan, the Chinese journalist at Bloomberg who's recently detained. Many wish for her safe return, but that's not possible without radical changes in how journalism works. Haze has worked at half a dozen outlets; her colleagues testify yrs of 1/
brilliance, but Bloomberg boss calls her an assistant. She doesn't call herself an assistant. I've been in her position before & this was my worst most humiliating nightmare -- for all my work, achievements, convictions be diminished to "she helped us with translations, maybe" 2/
By law, Chinese nationals can't work as correspondents for foreign outlets, sure. Outlets then find this loophole, call them researchers/assistants, and treat them like perpetual assistants. In a newsroom, the Chinese born reporters, mostly young women, take the most risks 3/
do the hardest work and get paid the least. There is no career progression, no compensation, and not even fair pay. We'll talk about sexual harassment some other time. 4/
Bloomberg doesn't have to call her an assistant. She should have been promoted to a more senior position a long time ago, given protection (i.e. a new passport). None of this would have happened if news orgs treat Chinese employees with baseline level of care or fairness 5/
This is not just a China problem. The same goes on in Asia, ME, Africa.. in a conflict zone, the local "researcher" could die for for story. It's pathetic how some (not all) correspondents get comfortable taking credit and letting this practice continue 6/
I'm not aware of one single media outlet that has a formalized process to give promotion, or visa/citizenship sponsorship for these "assistants" -- so they have a pathway to safety after years of the quasi-apprenticeship. 7/
Shameful how news orgs conveniently use Chinese law as an excuse to undervalue Chinese reporters, an approach that's racist at its core. If this doesn't change, more Chinese reporters will be taken, tortured, and news orgs are responsible as well as the Chinese gov 8/
Disclaimer: personally my journalism career has been largely outside China's borders, so I have had a much easier time -- but nonetheless affected by similar problems. 9/ end
