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March 8, 2014 |
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M? Qīng (穆青) (March 15, 1921 - October 11, 2003) was a journalist, author and photographer. He was well-known for his contributions to Chinese journalism in the 20th century. He has been a reporter at Xinhua News Agency for years. He was promoted to be the Chief President of Xinhua. Most of his works were published in journalism textbooks and have been used widely throughout China. Youth Mu was born in Bengbu (蚌埠), An_Hui|Anhui (安徽) in 1921. After attending secondary school in Henan (河南) he joined the Eighth_Route_Army|Eighth Route Army (八路軍), and in 1937, at the age of 16, he was responsible for a number of propaganda works. He joined the Communist_Party_of_China|Communist Party of China (中國共產黨) in 1939 and entered the Lu Xun Academy of Art (魯迅藝術學院) a year later. War Correspondent Mu commenced his career in journalism as a war correspondent in Jiefang Daily (解放日報) in the year 1942. Early in his career, he engaged in covering news stories on war, including the Sino-Japanese_War_(1937-1945) (抗日戰爭) and the Chinese_Civil_War (內戰). After Japan had surrendered in 1945, Mu was sent to the North-eastern China and established Dungfang Daily (東方日報). Career in Xinhua After the founding of the People%27s_Republic_of_China|People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, Mu was promoted to a senior level in the Xinhua_News|Xinhua News Agency (新華通訊社). In 1951, Mu was given the title of Vice President for the Xinhua Headquarter in Beijing. Later in 1955, he moved from the Headquarter to the Xinhua News Agency main office in Shanghai (上海), where he was President for the next 3 years. On 1982, Mu became the Chief President of Xinhua until his retirement in 1992. On October 11, 2003 he died from lung cancer in Beijing. Mu was known for his interest in reporting on the circumstances of Chinese peasants. He visited different parts of China frequently and interviewed the poverty stricken communities about their daily experiences. His goal was to make the central government aware of the needs of those who are underprivileged. Mu wrote stories about Communist Party and local government officials he saw as role models. The most famous of these is "Jiao Yulu - A Good Example of the Secretaries of the County Committee of the Communist Party" (縣委書記的榜樣??焦裕祿), in which Mu recorded the work done by Jiao Yulu in helping the peasants during a time of natural disaster. Throughout Mu's career in journalism, there are several principles which he has upheld. Importance of Investigation Mu believed that Investigative journalism is a journalist's responsibility to the readers. He thought that investigation is essential in ensuring that the facts reported are accurate. Journalists must be constantly alert and insist on investigation so that the news reported would be honest and truthful. Mu believed that investigation is so important that it sustains the life of a journalist as a journalist. He also thought that without investigation, news would lose its energy, orientation and meaning. On the other hand, Mu resisted making reports with people and stories which were fictional. Importance of Raising Questions Mu believed that in order to have accurate news reporting, journalists have to be constantly ready to challenge the information collected. Instead of merely reporting facts in a narrative way, journalists are to reveal to the readers the significance and meaning behind the news reports. Mu thought that raising questions enable journalists to think more, investigate more, and discover more; only by doing these things, can journalists reach closer to the truth. Importance of Reporting Up-to-date Social Problems Mu believed that journalists should discover more up-to-date social problems instead of reporting old problems. This could draw people's attention and motivate them to search for solutions. These reports could eventually help remove the obstacles to social development. Mu stated that journalists should actively report social issues and policies which aroused great public concern. Transparency in major social issues enabled the public to get hold of more information and hence could react correspondingly. Concensus between the people and the governemnt could be easily reached if the public understood the rationale behind each policy implemented by the government. Resisting Threats and Criticisms Apart from news writing, Mu was also famous for his directorship of the Xinhua News Agency. He helped defend independence of journalism during a period when biased news reporting was prevalent. When the Anti-Rightist Movement (反右派運動) started in 1957, the Shanghai (上海) Office of Xinhua, under the leadership of Mu, was the only branch that did not engage in criticising the rightists. Although Mu was under severe criticism during the Cultural_Revolution|Cultural Revolution, he upheld the principles. In 1975, Mu reported to Mao_Zedong|Mao Zedong (毛澤東) about opposition of Jiang_Qing|Jiang Qing (江青), leader of Gang_of_Four_(China)|Gang of Four (四人幫), towards Zhou_Enlai|Zhou Enlai (周恩來) and Deng_Xiaoping|Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) once he got hold of the information from his reporters, ignoring the potential consequences that might have caused him. Political Role of Xinhua Mu claimed that the Xinhua News Agency was a tool for Communist Party of China's (CPC) propaganda. It represented the Party and the People's Republic of China (PRC), and was also a medium for the promotion of Marxism (馬克斯主義) and the CPC's orientation, direction and policies. He required all journalists of the Xinhua News Agency to work in conformity with the principles of the Party and the Central Government. Claiming to be at the side of the proletariat, Mu heavily criticized the appearance of capitalism in Chinese journalism. Mu believed that the thoughts of liberation advocated by capitalism would lead to a denial of the CPC leadership. He constantly reminded the journalists in Xinhua to maintain absolute obedience towards the CPC. Mu's strong stance helped preserve the political orientation of the whole of Xinhua News Agency. Leading Xinhua to the World Mu's contribution to Xinhua's development had been widely recognized. He envisioned that for Xinhua would become an international news agency, it had to be more accurate and efficient in its news reporting, as well as to acquire a wider coverage on the news of developing countries. Under the leadership of Mu, Xinhua endeavoured to give the world a Chinese voice, by developing its own perspective. Aiming at this goal, Mu introduced new strategies to the agency and improved on the standard of news reporting. He placed emphasis on the training of young reporters, and advocated the idea of searching for truth by reaching out to the lower class of society. Early Encounter with Literature When Mu was young, he was more interested in becoming a writer than a journalist. While he was studying in Lu Xun Academy of Art, his writing skills waere honed as he spent a lot of effort on them. He learned theories of literature from many famous writers of modern China, e.g. Mao_Dun|Mao Dun (茅盾) and Zhou Yang (周揚), president of the Academy at that time. This essentially led to his literary style of news writing in his later career. Relationship Between Journalism and Literature Mu's greatest contribution was his news writing and literature. He disagreed with people at that time who did not regard literary reportage (報告文學) as a kind of literature and he insisted that literary reportage should be based on real people and real life situations, rather than fiction. His work, particularly about people, had incorporated various techniques of literature into news writing and had profound impacts on the development of literary reportage in China. His article "For Premier Zhou's Exhortation" (為了周總理的囑託) was once selected as the Outstanding Literary Reportage in China and this proved the literary value of his journalistic works. First Encounter with Photography Mu had written many correspondences during the ?war era?, however he did not have the chance to take any photographs reflecting the real world he was writing about. In the 80s, with the advancement of technology, Mu started to take pictures during his journeys in different places. "Realistic Correspondences" Mu liked to present his stories through his camera in a realistic way. He resisted reporting with second hand information. His photographies went with this principle as well.
Correspondences
Books
Photographic Work
Calligraphy
Category:Chinese journalists Category:1921 births Category:2003 deaths This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mu Qing".
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