New York Times and Tiananmen Square

The Crackdown in Tiananmen Square

By Leonard Ibrahimi

In 1989 the New York Times, like many other newspapers, reported the Tiananmen Square’s events in Beijing. On June 4th, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) engaged military force to suppress a student-led demonstration that had been gathering strength in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square since April 15th, 1989. The crackdown on the Tiananmen Square Movement was reported and interpreted in different ways by different media.

The New York Times, a very influential newspaper on policy makers, covered this incident with its correspondents; one among them was Nicholas Kristof. “He had graduated from Harvard College in three years, was Phi Beta Kappa in 1981, and then won first class honors in his study of law at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. He later studied Arabic in Cairo and Chinese in Taipei”.[1]Kristof has lived in four continents, reported on six, and traveled to well over 100 countries. “He joined The New York Times in October 1984, in the beginning covering economy issues. After that, he served as a business correspondent based in Los Angeles, Hong Kong bureau chief, and Beijing bureau chief”.[2]The journalistic reports from Tiananmen Square, with a few exceptions, were all tied together by a common thread of inconsistency, presenting conflicting accounts of the military crackdown in two main areas: the number of casualties and whether the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) killed students inside the square, as opposed to only those blocking the army’s corridor on the main roads leading to the square.This case examines the journalistic responsibilities of information gathering and their verification. “Most of the hundreds of foreign journalists that night were in other parts of the city or were removed from the square”.[3] Consequently, they could not witness the final chapter of the student story.Those who tried to remain close filed dramatic accounts that, in some cases, supported the myth of a student massacre; “some newspapers that had become sympathetic to the movement, reported 4,000 deaths”.[4] Moreover, even the New York Times picked up some ‘eyewitness’ stories about mass killing of students inside the Tiananmen Square by hundreds of machine guns.This case, in particular, explores whether the New York Times reporter, Nicholas Kristof, took the right step to acquire the most accurate information by challenging, in this way, even its own editors.

HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) introduced some capitalist market reforms after Mao Zedong's death, when the groupings around Deng Xiaoping took over party leadership. “These reforms, which allowed many of those who had been purged during the Cultural Revolution to return to privileged positions, have had encouraged ‘pragmatism’ – meaning learn from the capitalist countries”.[5]By early 1989, these economic reforms had led some groups of people to become dissatisfied with the government. These groups, especially students and intellectuals, believed that the reforms had not gone far enough and that China needed, more than anything else, to reform its political system. Moreover, since the economic reforms had only affected farmers and factory workers, “the incomes of intellectuals lagged far behind those who had benefited from reform policies”.[6]

IN THE SQUARE AND AROUND IT

It was early summer in Beijing, the capital city of China; tens of thousands of ordinary citizens led by students and intellectuals squatted on vacant public area called Tiananmen Square. “After this occurrence the square was named: The Avenue of Eternal Peace”.[7] Protesters demanded a consultation with their government and the passage of certain legislation. “To the heads of government and the local press, they were agitators with a political agenda that threatened to disrupt and endanger the nation”.[8]

After protesters’ demands were rejected, people did not leave their encampments. The Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party, refusing to meet with them, called on the national army to disperse the crowds. “As far as is known, the first violence came at around 10:30 P.M. on June 3 at Gongzhufen, where vanguard contingents of the assault force used about twenty armored personnel carriers to crash through bus barricades that were blocking the circular intersection”.[9] Soldiers charged the crowds with bayonets, tanks and tear gas and leveled the tents; “fires burned the camps to the ground”.[10]

Reports of the occurrences in Tiananmen Square were spreading and being published in Asian newspapers before Kristof sent a report about the events. “According to a widely reprinted 'eyewitness' account, which first ran in a Hong Kong paper and was purportedly written by a student, a huge number of students – hundreds of them, had been killed during the first hours of the massacre”.[11] This story was picked up by many newspapers, among others, The New York Times, although reporter Nicholas Kristof very quickly challenged this particular version.
Tiananmen Square is the largest public space in the world. “It extends over 100 acres, and no single eyewitness could hope to encompass the complex and confusing sequence of events that unfolded there on the night of June 3-4”.[12] Therefore, an objective report of what was happening had to be supplemented by the testimony of others who saw what happened at crucial moments.

In this context, Kristof tried to get as much information as possible about the event from the scene (square). “I was in my Beijing apartment when I heard that troops had opened fire and were trying to force their way to Tiananmen”,[13] he said. “So, I raced to the scene on my bicycle, dodging tank traps that protesters had erected”.[14]

Anxiety and vagueness were everywhere; the night was filled with gunfire. “I parked my bike at Tiananmen, and the People's Liberation Army soon arrived from the other direction”,[15] he said. “Troops marched along the main roads surrounding central Tiananmen Square, sometimes firing in the air and sometimes firing directly at crowds of men and women who refused to move out of the way”.[16] In the beginning Kristof was surprised, but later he realized that everything was real: “at first I thought these were blanks, but then the night echoed with screams and people began to crumple”.[17]

After he spent several hours in Tiananmen Square, talking with a few eyewitnesses, Kristof went back to his apartment to analyze everything that had happened in the square and around it. In the following days, he sent a story to his editors with the headline “Crackdown in Beijing; Troops Attack and Crush Beijing Protest”. Kristof’s story about the occurrence in Tiananmen Square began as follows:

Tens of thousands of Chinese troops retook the center of the capital early this morning from pro-democracy protesters, killing scores of students and workers and wounding hundreds more as they fired submachine guns at crowds of people who tried to resist.
Troops marched along the main roads surrounding central Tiananmen Square, sometimes firing in the air and sometimes firing directly at crowds of men and women who refused to move out of the way.

Early this morning, the troops finally cleared the square after first sweeping the area around it. Several thousand students who had remained on the square throughout the shooting left peacefully, still waving the banners of their universities. Several armed personnel carriers ran over their tents and destroyed the encampment.

THE REPORT OF NICHOLAS KRISTOF

Although The New York Times had already published the article about the event in Tiananmen Square,[18] the reporter Nicholas Kristof sent a very challenging story of these occurrences.Kristof’s report of Tiananmen Square was based on what he saw by himself; on the testimony of others, including doctors, who saw what happened at crucial moments; and information from hospitals (he visited hospitals by himself).
After gathering ‘enough’ evidence, he wrote an article about this occurrence. He knew that The New York Times had published a story based on the testimony of ‘eyewitness’; according to that story the number of casualties was “several hundreds during the first hours of crackdown”.[19]Kristof sent the story to his editors for publishing. “I had so many years experience in journalism and I hardly decided to send it”,[20] he said. “I didn’t know what impact it would have, how my editors would accept it”.[21]

Bernie Gwertzman,[22] at that time deputy foreign editor of The New York Times and later foreign editor, firstly was very suspicious about the article. But The New York Times as New York Times is always opened for corrections. The newspaper always corrects itself: “remember Jayson Blair’s scandal”.[23] Therefore, they trusted him and they published his story.
In his article and later in his book, Kristof estimated that “between 400 and 800 people died in Tiananmen Square, many of them students and they remain ‘the elephant in the room of Chinese politics’”.[24]He also reported about the students’ violent actions. “Students and workers tried to resist the crackdown, and destroyed at least 16 trucks and 2 armored personnel carriers”,[25] he wrote. “The drivers escaped, but were beaten by students. A young American man, who could not be immediately identified, was also beaten by the crowd after he tried to intervene and protect one of the drivers”.[26]

REACTIONS TO THE COVERAGE

The impact of The New York Times coverage of the Beijing spring influenced media’s coverage in Panama, Eastern Europe, the Persian Gulf and the former Soviet Union in a number of ways. “Violence and repression had been covered before, but seldom reported in very detailed way”.[27]The coverage of Tiananmen Square’s event had an impact on Chinese society also. An interesting Chinese view came from young journalist Yeng Louqi, who wrote: “The U.S. media, in particular The New York Times, deserve real credit.... It brought Tiananmen to the entire world, and Tiananmen was a foreplay of the changes that later occurred in the communist countries”.[28]

CONCLUSION
To conclude, the answer to the question raised in the beginning, did Nicholas Kristof take the right step in acquiring the most accurate information by challenging even its own editors?, is yes, yes indeed. Kristof did the right step when he decided to look for more accurate information, and all journalists should do that. They should explore problems in very detailed and unbiased way.Nicholas Kristof was rewarded one year later. “In 1990 Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, also a Times journalist, won the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of China's Tiananmen Square democracy movement”.[29] A new era in journalism starts with them; “they were the first married couple to win the Pulitzer Price for journalism”.[30]

NOTES:[1] Columnist Biography: Nicholas Kristof. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/KRISTOF-BIO.html (last time visited: 20.04.2006)
[2] Ibid.
[3] Nan Lin. The Struggle for Tiananmen: Anatomy of the 1989 Mass Movement. Praeger Publishers. Westport CT. 1992, pg. 144-145
[4] Albert Chang. Revisiting the Tiananmen Square Incident: A Distorted Image Both Sides of the Lens, pg. 10-11. http://www.standford.edu/group/sjeaa/journal51/china1.pdf (last time visited: 17.04.2006)[5] Andy McInerney. History Clarifies What Happened in 1989. http//www.workers.org/ww/tienanmen.html (last time visited: 15.04.2006)[6] Theodore Han & John Li: Tiananmen Square, Spring 1989: A Chronology of the Chinese Democracy Movement. Institute of East Asian Studies – Univerity of California; Berkley, CA. 1992, pg. 20-24.[7] Independent Television Service (ITVS). The Gate of Heavenly Peace. http://www.tsquare.tv/film/transjune4.html. (last time visited: 20.04.2006)[8] Theodore Han & John Li: Tiananmen Square, Spring 1989: A Chronology of the Chinese Democracy Movement. Institute of East Asian Studies – University of California; Berkley, CA. 1992, pg. 9-11.[9] Robin Munro. “Who died in Beijing and Why?” The Nation. Volume 250. Issue: 23. June 11, 1990. The Nation Company LP, pg. 811[10] Ibid.[11] Robin Munro. “Who died in Beijing and Why?” The Nation. Volume 250. Issue: 23. June 11, 1990. The Nation Company LP, pg. 811[12] Elaine Chan. Sacredness and the Ritual Process in Collective Action: the 1989 Chinese Student Movement. Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. Volume. 31. Issue: 1. 1999, pg. 3[13] Nicholas Kristof. “The Tiananmen Victory”. The New York Times. June 2, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/opinion/02KRIS.html?ex=1401508800&en=ced9a0581a266afc&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND (last time visited: 21.04.2006)[14] Ibid.[15] Ibid.[16] Nicholas Kristof. “Crackdown in Beijing; Troops Attack and Crush Beijing Protest”. New York Times. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/chincrac.htm. (last time visited: 21.04.2006)[17] Nicholas Kristof. The Tiananmen Victory. The New York Times. June 2, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/opinion/02KRIS.html?ex=1401508800&en=ced9a0581a266afc&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND (last time visited: 21.04.2006)[18] Albert Chang. Revisiting the Tiananmen Square Incident: A Distorted Image Both Sides of the Lens, pg. 13-15. http://www.standford.edu/group/sjeaa/journal51/china1.pdf (last time visited: 17.04.2006)[19] Ibid.[20] Nicholas Kristof. “The Tiananmen Victory”. The New York Times. June 2, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/opinion/02KRIS.html?ex=1401508800&en=ced9a0581a266afc&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND (last time visited: 21.04.2006)[21] Ibid.[22] During his 6 years as foreign editor The NYT won four Pulitzer Prices for international coverage[23] For more information: http://www.rediff.com/us/june/05nyt.htm (last time visited: 25.04.2006)[24] Nicholas Kristof. “The Tiananmen Victory”. The New York Times. June 2, 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/opinion/02KRIS.html?ex=1401508800&en=ced9a0581a266afc&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND (last time visited: 21.04.2006)[25] Nicholas Kristof. “Crackdown in Beijing; Troops Attack and Crush Beijing Protest”. New York Times. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/chincrac.htm. (last time visited: 21.04.2006)[26] Ibid.[27] Marvin Kalb. Turmoil at Tiananmen: A Study of U.S. Coverage of the Beijing Spring of 1989. http://www.tsquare.tv/themes/Tatintro.html#anchor415747 (last time visited: 21.04.2006)[28] Ibid.[29] Columnist Biography: Nicholas Kristof. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/KRISTOF-BIO.html (last time visited: 20.04.2006)[30] Ibid.
BIBLIOGRAPHYChang, Albert. Revisiting the Tiananmen Square Incident: A Distorted Image Both Sides of the Lens. http://www.standford.edu/group/sjeaa/journal51/china1.pdf (last time visited: 17.04.2006)Kristof, Nicholas. Columnist Biography. http://www.nytimes.com/ref/KRISTOF-BIO.html (last time visited: 20.04.2006)Independent Television Service (ITVS). The Gate of Heavenly Peace. http://www.tsquare.tv/film/transjune4.html. (last time visited: 20.04.2006)Kalb, Marvin. Turmoil at Tiananmen: A Study of U.S. Coverage of the Beijing Spring of 1989. http://www.tsquare.tv/themes/Tatintro.html#anchor415747 (last time visited: 21.04.2006)Kristof, Nicholas. “Crackdown in Beijing; Troops Attack and Crush Beijing Protest”. New York Times.http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/chincrac.htm. (last time visited: 21.04.2006)Nicholas, Kristof. “The Tiananmen Victory”. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/opinion/02KRIS.html?ex=1401508800&en=ced9a0581a266afc&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND (last time visited: 21.04.2006)McInerney, Andy. History Clarifies What Happened in 1989. http//www.workers.org/ww/tienanmen.html (last time visited: 15.04.2006)Sources from Questia Online LibraryHan, Theodore & John Li: Tiananmen Square, Spring 1989: A Chronology of the Chinese Democracy Movment. Institute of East Asian Studies – University of California; Berkley, CA. 1992.Lin, Nan. The Struggle for Tiananmen: Anatomy of the 1989 Mass Movement. Praeger Publishers. Westport CT. 1992.Munro, Robin. “Who died in Beijing and Why”? The Nation. Volume 250. Issue: 23. The Nation Company LP. 1990.