About 10 day or so, the Olympic flame arrived to Chinese soil to begin a 3-month long relay that will culminate on August 8 at the Olympic Stadium in Beijing. And just 2 days ago, a devastating earthquake hit Sichuan, the most populous province in China.

From these two tales I have noticed how Chinese media has reacted to these two incidents. And here are some observations.

The Olympic torch relay overseas was heavily broadcasted by state media. I think it is fair to say that no one expected such violent disruptions to the relay for obvious reasons. From my conversations with local Chinese friends, and officials, they underestimated the power of NGOs and other private organizations. They were too focused on media, but forgot that media is just a medium. To many Chinese, the idea of NGO is foreign. Unlike the Coca-Colas, the Nikes, the Fords, there was no familiarity of these entities. It was hard to put a face onto a NGO, thus unable to fight back in an uniformed way. Thus when the CNN incident broke (Cafferty's remarks), it was a perfect chance to put a face to the disruption, and CNN was a big brand that Chinese loves to single out and challenge. But putting outrage aside, Chinese government and corporations are only starting to understand NGOs, and from a PR prospective, these are groups that will bring the most trouble and challenges to Chinese corporation when they decide to go abroad.

While citizens rally to boycott CNN, the media is also playing a bigger role in bringing the country together in time of devastation. 24hr non-stop of live report on the earthquake aftermath really put everyone on the same boat. Cash and goods donations have arrive in tons and the image of Premier Wen in the hard hit areas, visiting the victims really spell out "change" of some sort. In the past, China has been reluctant to broadcast tragedies, such as the Tangshan earthquake in late 70s, or the recent SARS. Yet this time is different. As if the government is trying to use the media to tell its stakeholders on what's happening, what the government is doing, and what are the challenges that it is facing. In some ways, the media reports have shown a positive attitude taken by the government, and we have heard high praise from the citizens on how the government has reacted quickly and effectively.

These two tales do share something in common. With increasing easy way to get information, the government understands that hiding is no longer a viable solution. Rather, use the media to rally its citizens is a quick and effective way. Yet, what remains is how long this openness is going to last, and if the media (or government) has the courage to report "what's not working." If that happens, it will be worth of another entry on this blog.