Reflections on Media Responsibility and Seeking the Truth

 Origin of the Incident: On April 7th, China Newsweek published an interview with the manager of the Meixue Bingcheng (Honey Snow Ice City) regarding the child labor incident. After reading it, like many other netizens, I wanted to know if the young girl had been properly taken care of. However, despite searching the entire internet, I couldn't find accurate results. So, on April 9th, I contacted the official "Zhejiang Province Citizen Complaints" platform to request a public response about the girl's situation and to address the concerns of the public. Yesterday, on April 19th, I received a response from the Tian Tai County Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau. The reply is as follows:

Hello,

We have received your report at our bureau. Based on relevant laws in Zhejiang Province, we have punished the shop operators involved in illegal labor practices and have informed the relevant departments and streets about the individual's situation. Currently, the relevant departments and streets have taken necessary measures to assist the family in solving their practical difficulties, and the girl has returned to school. We appreciate your support for our administrative law enforcement work! If you have any further questions, please call 83889110 for inquiries.

Tian Tai County Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau

April 19, 2022

This response did not surprise me. According to the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Prohibition of the Use of Child Labor," Article 10 states that the labor administrative department should immediately order the units or individuals who violate this regulation by employing child labor to send the child workers back to their original place of residence. The costs associated with sending the child workers back to their original place of residence shall be borne entirely by the units or individuals employing them.

So why did there appear to be a so-called "reversal" in this normal enforcement action? The selective reporting by the media is to blame.

If the people from China Newsweek had taken a moment to review the relevant legal provisions or contact the enforcement authorities to verify the information after interviewing the shop manager, they would have known that the girl was not missing but had returned to her parents. However, they did not do so. Instead, on the evening of April 7th, around 9 p.m., they directly released the recording of the interview with the shop manager, igniting the flames of public opinion. With the amplification by other media outlets the next day, the issue became a raging fire, causing a divide between the public/businesses and law enforcement. It wasn't until April 15th that the authorities, after conducting an investigation, confirmed the situation and provided a public response to the concerned netizens, gradually calming the situation. Therefore, after reviewing the entire incident, I have always wondered, China Newsweek, what exactly were you concerned about?

If you were concerned about the young girl, then up until now, your official Douyin account has not provided any updates on the follow-up of this matter. If you claim to be interested in presenting the truth to netizens, then your coverage was one-sided from start to finish. Ironically, if your goal was merely to gain attention, your own Douyin account received only a little over 20,000 likes, while media outlets such as VistaKanTianxia, Shandian Video, and Cover News, which reposted your coverage, received tens or hundreds of times more likes.

Setting aside the above points, when I try to put myself in your shoes, there seems to be only one possibility: you were merely fulfilling your job requirements. Yes, there needs to be a plot twist to generate traffic, to climb the ranks, and to increase your views, likes, and followers. And this twist can only be achieved through selective reports and exaggerated narratives. The more you play with people's hearts, the more they get hooked. The higher the viewing rate, the higher the advertisement revenue, and the more money you make. Am I right?

I am not questioning your right to make money or gain attention, but I am questioning the bottom line. I am questioning whether you have the moral responsibility and conscience that media should possess. Media not only disseminate information but also shape public opinion and guide the direction of social development. Your coverage has created a distorted public opinion and caused unnecessary divisions and conflicts. Is this the media that we need?

I believe that kindness can help some people, but only the system can help everyone. People's kindness is limited, while the system can provide fair and equal rights for all. I hope that when we face similar incidents in the future, we can rely not only on individual kindness and assistance but also on the support and improvement of the system, ensuring that everyone can enjoy justice and equality.