Has the American Media Misjudged China?
November 21, 2014
Thirty five years after China’s opening to the world, some of the key assumptions that have guided coverage are being tested by the presidency of Xi Jinping.
Bill chaired an organizing committee that managed a reunion of 70 current and former China Hands on behalf of the Overseas Press Club, the Asia Society's ChinaFile and the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. The reunion held four panel discussions about coverage of China's economy, its domestic political situation, the government's crackdown on the Western media, and the country's social media scene. The sessions were videotaped. Highlights are available at the OPC website.
Those discussions have been transcribed and edited into an e-book that is now available on Amazon.com. Bill offers his own personal conclusions in an introduction. Appendices include a list of attendees, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China report on the Chinese government crackdown against the Western media, and a protest statement issued by the OPC. It is the sixth book that Bill has either written or edited.
Bill has conducted hundreds of interviews not only in the United States, but also in Germany and China, to zero in on what really is happening inside this giant corporation. He interviewed Rick Wagoner on two occasions in Detroit, and then spoke with him again following his ill-fated testimony before the Senate and House Committees in November 2008.
The message that emerges from many months of research is that Wagoner has truly put GM through the most sweeping transformation since the days of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., in the 1920s. Wagoner has transformed the cost structure, encouraged a complete transformation of how GM actually manufactures cars, opened up the company's design capabilities and helped his people engage in very robust innovation, as reflected in GM's commitment to lithium ion batteries for the Chevrolet Volt.
The financial crisis has obviously ambushed Wagoner's effort. So it has been shocking to see the company forced to ask the federal government for bridge loans. It appears that some sort of help is forthcoming. Thus it is possible that Wagoner can complete his historic transformation. The American economy may depend on it.
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