Mu Qing (journalist)

Mù Qīng (Chinese: 穆青; March 15, 1921 – October 11, 2003) was a Chinese journalist and politician. He was known for his contributions to Chinese journalism in the 20th century. He was a reporter at Xinhua News Agency for decades before becoming its President. Most of his works were published in journalism textbooks and have been used widely throughout China.

Mu Qing
穆青
BornMarch 15, 1921
Bengbu, Anhui, China
DiedOctober 11, 2003(2003-10-11) (aged 82)

Biography

Youth

Mu was born in Bengbu, Anhui in 1921. After attending secondary school in Henan he joined the Eighth Route Army, and in 1937, at the age of 16, he was responsible for a number of propaganda works. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1939 and entered the Lu Xun Academy of Art (鲁迅艺术学院) a year later.

War Correspondent

Mu commenced his career in journalism as a war correspondent in Jiefang Daily in the year 1942. Early in his career, he engaged in covering news stories on war, including the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Chinese Civil War. After Japan had surrendered in 1945, Mu was sent to the North-eastern China and established Dongfang Daily (东方日报).

Career in Xinhua

After the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, Mu was promoted to a senior level in the Xinhua News Agency. In 1951, Mu was given the title of Vice President for the Xinhua Headquarters in Beijing. Later in 1955, he moved from the Headquarters to the Xinhua News Agency main office in Shanghai, where he was President for the next three years.

In 1982, Mu became the Chief President of Xinhua until his retirement in 1992. On October 11, 2003 he died from lung cancer in Beijing.

Concern for the poor

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" (县委书记的榜样—焦裕禄), in which Mu recorded the work done by Jiao Yulu in helping the peasants during a time of natural disaster.

Mu's Principles of Journalism

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. Consensus between the people and the government could be easily reached if the public understood the rationale behind each policy implemented by the government.

Mu's Influence on Journalism in China

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 started in 1957, the Shanghai 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, he upheld the principles. In 1975, Mu reported to Mao Zedong about opposition of Jiang Qing, leader of Gang of Four, towards Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping 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 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.

Mu's Contribution to Literature

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 were 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 and Zhou Yang, 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 (报告文学) 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" (为了周总理的嘱讬) was once selected as the Outstanding Literary Reportage in China and this proved the literary value of his journalistic works.

Mu's Contribution to Photography

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 photographs went with this principle as well.

Famous works by Mu Qing

Correspondences

Books
  • Ding ci yi shu (《定瓷藝術》) (2002)
  • Hsin wen san lun (《新聞散論》) (Talking about News) (1996)
  • Jiao yu lu (《焦裕祿》) (1980)
  • Ming dai min yao qing hua (《明代民窯青花》) (With Tang Weijian) (2000)
  • Mu Qing san wen xuan (《穆青散文選》) (1984)
  • Shi ge gong chan dang yuan (《十個共產黨員》) (10 Communists)
  • Weiyena di xuan lü (《維也納的旋律》) (The Melody of Vienna) (1983)
  • Xiang zhong de hong qi (《湘中的紅旗》)(1950)
  • Xin wen gong zuo san lun (《新聞工作散論》) (1983)
  • Zhongguo xin wen yi da xi, 1937–1949. Bao gao wen xue ji (《中國新文藝大系, 1937–1949. 報告文學集》) (Edited by Mu Qing) (1996)
  • Zhongguo xin wen yi da xi, 1949–1966. Bao gao wen xue ji (《中國新文藝大系, 1949–1966. 報告文學集》) (Edited by Mu Qing) (1987)

Photographic Work

Calligraphy

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