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Many say their hearts break for Haze Fan, the Chinese journalist at Bloomberg who& #39;s recently detained. Many wish for her safe return, but that& #39;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& #39;t call herself an assistant. I& #39;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& #39;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& #39;ll talk about sexual harassment some other time. 4/
Bloomberg doesn& #39;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& #39;s pathetic how some (not all) correspondents get comfortable taking credit and letting this practice continue 6/
I& #39;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& #39;s racist at its core. If this doesn& #39;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& #39;s borders, so I have had a much easier time -- but nonetheless affected by similar problems. 9/ end
