食
用油本是一种不招谁也不惹谁的烹调用品，却引发了中国最高经济规划部门与一家激进报纸的激烈口水战。
European Pressphoto Agency
上海一家超市的理货员。
《第一财经日报》不是唯一报道停产的媒体，甚至也不是发改委的主要批评对象，但它对发改委的反驳力度在众媒体中脱颍而出。该报周二发表声明坚称，其报道"有数据、文字和录音作为物证"，并说，"作为一份始终坚持'对时代负责'的报纸，我们对发改委的有关说法持保留意见"。
对于西方媒体来说，这种争斗稀松平常，但它在中国并不常见。当政府批评媒体报道时，媒体很少公开提出异议，尤其是批评来自于国家最高决策机构之一、所涉问题又关乎中央政策的时候。
两周前，政府为控制食用油价格的快速上涨，要求关键生产商不要在春节过完以前提价。春节期间，中国人一般都是在家里一起吃大餐。
那么《第一财经日报》是怎么想的？
该报被财经行业观察者视为必读报纸，其影响之大，完全可以比其他很多媒体承担更多风险。在报道食用油停产的同一天，《第一财经日报》另一篇文章还报道，央行对部分银行实施的差别存款准备金率将会展期。这篇报道被国际通讯社广泛引用。
在食用油的问题上，《第一财经日报》或许也已经感受到自己成了政治上的赢家。食品生产这个问题很容易触发公众的焦虑，与政府公开争辩，老百姓很可能会站在报社这一边。
发改委到目前为止拒绝因为《第一财经日报》的反驳而为自己辩解。如果辩解，它保证未来数月食用油价格不涨、同时供应充足的压力就会进一步加大，以免进一步激发《第一财经日报》的大胆抨击。
Chuin-Wei Yap
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Cooking oil, an otherwise innocuous kitchen item, lies at center of a fiery spat between China's top economic planners and an aggressive local newspaper.
The brouhaha began on Monday, when the China Business News, a popular financial news daily, ran a story saying some of China's edible oil makers had stopped production. The National Development Reform Commission, a central government agency responsible for macroeconomic policy planning, promptly released a statement (in Chinese) denying the stoppage and criticizing media outlets for reporting it.
China Business News wasn't the only media outlet to report the stoppages--it wasn't even the main focus of the NRDC's criticisms--but it distinguished itself with the strength of its rebuttal. In a statement issued Tuesday ( in Chinese), the paper insisted its report was backed by 'data, documents and recordings,' adding: 'As a responsible paper, we have issues with what the commission is saying.'
The tussle, standard fare by Western media standards, is unusual in China. Media outlets rarely take open issue with government criticism of their reporting, not least when it comes from one of the highest policy-making bodies in the country and involves an issue of central policy importance.
Two weeks ago, the government sought to put a lidon rapidly rising cooking oil costs, telling key producers not to raise prices until the Lunar New Yearâ '-a time when families typically gather at home for large meals--is over.
So what was the paper thinking?
China Business News, regarded by financial industry watchers as a must-read paper, is arguably influential enough to take more risks than many other media outlets. On the same day it reported the cooking oil stoppage, the newspaper also broke a story on the People's Bank of China extending a special, higher lending requirement on banks--a report widely picked up by global wire services.
On the cooking oil issue, the newspaper may also have sensed a political winner. Food production is an issue that quickly finds a mark with public angst, and one where a showdown with the government is likely to find the common householder on the newspaper's side.
The NDRC has so far declined to defend itself against the China Business News rebuttal. If it does, it will be under even greater pressure to ensure cooking oil prices don't rise in the coming months--and that the product stays widely available--lest it further fuel the paper's audacity.
Chuin-Wei Yap
The brouhaha began on Monday, when the China Business News, a popular financial news daily, ran a story saying some of China's edible oil makers had stopped production. The National Development Reform Commission, a central government agency responsible for macroeconomic policy planning, promptly released a statement (in Chinese) denying the stoppage and criticizing media outlets for reporting it.
China Business News wasn't the only media outlet to report the stoppages--it wasn't even the main focus of the NRDC's criticisms--but it distinguished itself with the strength of its rebuttal. In a statement issued Tuesday ( in Chinese), the paper insisted its report was backed by 'data, documents and recordings,' adding: 'As a responsible paper, we have issues with what the commission is saying.'
The tussle, standard fare by Western media standards, is unusual in China. Media outlets rarely take open issue with government criticism of their reporting, not least when it comes from one of the highest policy-making bodies in the country and involves an issue of central policy importance.
Two weeks ago, the government sought to put a lidon rapidly rising cooking oil costs, telling key producers not to raise prices until the Lunar New Yearâ '-a time when families typically gather at home for large meals--is over.
So what was the paper thinking?
China Business News, regarded by financial industry watchers as a must-read paper, is arguably influential enough to take more risks than many other media outlets. On the same day it reported the cooking oil stoppage, the newspaper also broke a story on the People's Bank of China extending a special, higher lending requirement on banks--a report widely picked up by global wire services.
On the cooking oil issue, the newspaper may also have sensed a political winner. Food production is an issue that quickly finds a mark with public angst, and one where a showdown with the government is likely to find the common householder on the newspaper's side.
The NDRC has so far declined to defend itself against the China Business News rebuttal. If it does, it will be under even greater pressure to ensure cooking oil prices don't rise in the coming months--and that the product stays widely available--lest it further fuel the paper's audacity.
Chuin-Wei Yap
没有评论:
发表评论