Imagine coming from China to study in the US as an aspiring journalist—a very competitive industry, where you'll have to research, interview, write at a very high level in a foreign language. Everything is stacked against you...🧵 apnews.com
Some sources/readers will immediately take you less seriously if you have a foreign accent, or even look foreign, have a foreign name; more so if you happen to be female too. And being Chinese will frequently lead to false assumptions about your motivations and abilities.
On the other side, many back in China will automatically deem you some sort of traitor for the crime of working for “Western media.” They may never read a single word you actually wrote, but a “Western media” association may be enough to virtually tar, feather and dox you.
When you graduate, you’ll not only compete with native US journalists for jobs, you have to be so great an employer will take on extra costs/hassles of sponsoring your visa. Visa stresses constantly hang over you, and some employers may even use that to exploit/mistreat you.
And financial stresses are a given, as they are for just about any journalist these days, but they’re compounded by said visa/employment issues and trying to have any sort of transnational life straddling two countries.
But despite all this, you’re passionate about journalism, believe in press freedom & are determined to use the opportunity in US to exercise it. Through that passion & exhausting work, you overcome the odds, establish a successful career and do important, impactful journalism…
…And then some dweeb (albeit possibly a very powerful one) completely dismisses you and everything you’ve ever accomplished, after admittedly never having actually read a word you’ve written, because you’re from “Communist China.”
I don’t know Yanqi Xu and don’t presume all the above circumstances apply to her, but they do many of the other journalists from China in the US I’ve known. Jim Pillen’s remarks are a slap in the face to everything so many Chinese journalists in the US have accomplished.
There’s been a big influx of Chinese journalists working in US media the past 5-10 years, following a big influx of idealistic Chinese students in US journalism schools, and we’re all better off for it. Coverage of China issues has very noticeably been improved by their presence.
…but not only China issues. Many are now working at (often struggling) local outlets, bringing new perspectives, needed skills to these newsrooms. And @yanqixu_ is far from the first to be attacked on the basis of nationality by someone unable to discredit the merits her work.
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