Media Practice, Prize Awards: Chinese Journalists’ Association Enforces Tough Criteria

Those who fail annual appraisal examinations have their certificates revoked.  

Journalists in China are managed by the All-China Journalists’ Association, ACJA, which was founded in February 1957. Its day-to-day activities are run by a secretariat led by the Executive Secretary, Wang Dongmei, a Senior Editor, with over 30 years of practice. ACJA enlists organisations, not individuals, as members. It now has a membership of 217 organisations comprising almost a million journalists.  

Briefing 27 African journalists in her office in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on April 25, 2017, Mrs. Dongmei spoke of the efforts of her association to enforce high standards in the profession and the respect for ethics and the laws. “Journalists who fail annual appraisal examinations are suspended from work and their certificates revoked until they pass before continuing to practise,” she disclosed. On the other hand, those who violate ethics can also have their certificates revoked. Meanwhile, nominations for annual Journalism Best Works go through several levels, often managed by experienced journalists, the Executive Secretary explained.

“Finally 70 experienced journalists, scholars and experts sit to appraise the nominations. The results are then published online and the public given a month to evaluate the quality. If there are any genuine complaints, the process will be started all over. Choosing China’s best journalism works each year is a long and rigorous process that begins in April from the city to provincial and then national l...