China’s thick red media line on what journalists can write about communist ally North Korea

North Korea’s missile launch and nuclear test where shots heard around the world, setting off a torrent of news coverage and analysis about the hermit kingdom. But in China, the tests caused barely a ripple of controversy, with reporters more cautious than ever about covering the country’s wayward neighbour.

There has long been a red line in the sand about what mainland journalists can write on China’s communist ally. That line is drawn by state censors and the press itself, and follows the contours of the complex bilateral relationship, journalists and researchers say.

“There have long been restrictions on [reporting] North Korea. We only follow Xinhua, so you basically can’t find any [original] reporting on North Korea in our paper,” a reporter with a popular Guangdong newspaper said.

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The explicit restrictions came from provincial propaganda authorities but self-censorship played a part, the reporter said.

The newspaper, as well as many other mainstream media, covered the nuclear test in January and the missile launch earlier this month using reports from central media such as Xinhua and China News Service.

There was space for a pinch of original reporting but journalists tended not to push the envelope, according to another reporter

“We could interview scholars for analysis on issues such as North Korea’s strategic intentions,” the reporter said. “But blatantly criticising North Korea is out of the question.”