Sinocidal lampoons parachute journalists in China

I got a chuckle from this: Sinocidal's satirical advice for foreign journalists attempting to write an article about China:

You've just arrived in your 5-Star room at the Shanghai Hilton and unpacked your fancy new Apple laptop. As you pull the top off the mini bottle of Hennessey XO, you finally turn to your instructions from the editor back home. 2000 words by Monday about the important issues facing China today. Easy.

But two days have passed and you are still staring at a blank screen. You're experiencing a stretch of writer's block as long as the Great Wall of China and the deadline is hanging over your head like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. It seems that more research than flicking through a copy of Wild Swans in the airport is needed after all.

The list of tips that follows is a hoot, ranging from getting sources ("ask a taxi driver!") to choosing headlines (using Sinocidal's 'China-headline-o'matic').

And there's more than a hint of truth to the account. It's known as "parachute journalism," and it occurs every time a local crisis or event makes waves in an out-of-the-way place, and reporters with insufficient knowledge of the local situation are flown in and attempt to interpret the news for the folks back home. You've seen articles or TV segments like this before that pertain to Chinese culture. You will see dozens more next year when thousands of foreign journalists who've never been to China and can't speak Chinese descend upon Beijing for the 2008 Olympics and attempt to "explain" China to the rest of the world.

(Thanks to Myrick at AsiaPundit for the link.)