Group reports-critique, grades, Week 1

Sino-U.S. Relations Group members: 

This is a good attempt to combine several significant strands of Sino-U.S. relations.  You did well to lead on tensions over how to handle North Korea’s nuclear program. However, the lead needs work. For one thing, all verbs must be in the same tense throughout the story, usually in the past tense. So it should be xxx “Tensions grew (or have grown - instead of “grow”) between China and the United States over how to handle North Korea’s quickening drive to develop nuclear weapons in defiance of the world community. Xxx

You could turn the rest of your lead into a second sentence: The United States pushed to tighten sanctions against the North amid negotiations with China on a new United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its latest nuclear test.

Your story would be better if you included a solid “nut graf” with relevant background on North Korea’s push for nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them. Rather than refer to the test five weeks ago, give the exact date (Sept. 9). Specific dates are better than an ambiguous formulation, which smacks of laziness. Our job as reporters is to pin down the facts.

A good nut graf also would explain the reason for China’s opposition to the missile defense system and China’s concern about tightening sanctions against Pyongyang. Thus, you could explain that a Chinese imperative is to avoid destabilizing the North for fear of a power vacuum, waves of North Korean refugees streaming into China’s northeast and the emergence of a potentially reunified Korean peninsula allied with the United States.  At the same time, China deems the U.S.-built Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) anti-missile capabilities as a threat to the global security balance that could spark an arms race. 

Speaking of facts, you wrongly say that the United States and South Korea have deployed a missile-defense system against the North in the past five weeks. In fact, the planned antimissile deployment, announced in July, has not yet taken place.

You’ve got a grade of 85 for this group report (out of a possible 100).

~jw

North Korea nuclear program strains Sino-US relation  

Tensions grow between Sino-US over how to handle increasingly erratic North Korea, as the US seeks to tighten the sanction on North Korea, and negotiating with China on a new draft Security Council resolution to punish Pyongyang.

Since North Korea's fifth and largest nuclear test nearly five weeks ago,U.S. and South Korea have deployed a missile-defense system against the North, which is harshly criticized by China . The US also urges to ban North Korea’s coal export and block its tourism industry, 90% of which are Chinese tourists ,cutting revenue sources for its illegal activities.

However, China pushed back against the US bid to tighten coal sanction for "livelihood purposes".

"We cannot really affect the well-being and the humanitarian needs of the people and also we need to urge various parties to reduce tensions," Chinese UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi told Reuters.

A company in Dandong, northeastern China, is suspected to have block trade with North Korea, and has been controlled,said the local police.The US Justice Department recently unsealed criminal charges against the company for conspiring to evade sanctions,according to AP news.

If the Chinese government failed to curb North Korea's nuclear program, the U.S. would “ring China with missile defense", as Hillary Clinton privately said in the leaked e-mails. While China is backed up by Russia to defend against the shield, as Reuters reported.

In the turbulent waters of the Asian Pacific region, Rodrigo Duterte, new president of the Philippines, will be the first president of the longstanding US ally to travel to Beijing before Washington, which is seen as “Jeopardize US Pacific strategy ” by The Sunday Times.

At the same time,tension also exist in other areas. Remained as one of the handful of countries with trading surplus to US, China is urged upon to trim the large trade imbalances with the US, the Obama Administration says. The assessment sent to the US congress doesn't designate China or any other major U.S. trading partners as currency manipulators, but are all added to the list of special monitoring.

On Oct.5, Pew Search Center released poll after conducting a survey among Chinese in 2016, showing that 50% of Chinese Public are US favorable, and 45% names US as top threat in terms of its world power.

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Cybersecurity Group members,

I feel as if you’ve missed the cybersecurity story of the past week or so entirely, especially from an international perspective. Your story doesn’t contain enough substantive news under the circumstances.   

Specifically, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama formally has accused Russia of trying to interfere in the U.S. election next month. As a result, there has been a focus on whether Obama has told the U.S. National Security Agency or any other U.S. spy outfit to carry out a retaliatory cyberstrike. The U.S. vice president, Joseph Biden, seemed to suggest that Obama was prepared to order — or already has ordered — some kind of covert action to retaliate after emails stolen from the U.S. Democratic National Committee were published online. Biden made his comments in a taped television interview.

In addition, your piece doesn’t specify where Keith Lowry was speaking. Every story must make clear where the action took place – whether it was in an interview with a specific news organization, at a forum or elsewhere.

In your third paragraph, you say:  “According to him, background checks do little to stop potential document leakers such as Manning, Snowden and Martin III.”

However, you must identify Manning and Martin III immediately, even if you get around to discussing Martin III lower down in your story. Who is Manning? Readers would want to know. You can’t have any holes in a news story.

Also, you need more background information – a kind of “nut graf” – to explain exactly what Edward Snowden did.  This could be something like:  xxx Snowden   copied and leaked a trove of classified information from the U.S. National Security Agency in 2013. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and close U.S. allies with the help of telecommunication companies and European governments.

Finally, you need to take care when injecting opinion into your piece, as you’ve done here: “The high-profile leaks of recent years have done little to shake the private sector awake, however. Organizations defrauded by staff and contractors are unwilling to air their problems in court and engage in long and costly civil disputes.” Ideally, this kind of analysis should be attributed to a specific source or sources, rather than just popped into your piece – unless you or one of your group members is an expert on the subject.

You’ve got a grade of 75 for this group report (out of a possible 100).

~jw

Leaker-detector background check invalid in US

A former top US Government investigator who looked into classified document leaks by Edward Snowden has criticized the effectiveness of back ground checks, saying such checks will not prevent further leaks.

Keith Lowry, formerly US chief of staff to the deputy under secretary of defense for Human intelligence, says that he was “intimately involved” at the time and sole recipient for all investigative material on the cases for a period of about six months.

According to him, background checks do little to stop potential document leakers such as Manning, Snowden and Martin III. "I don't think there is anything anyone can do using background and psychological checks to stop [Snowden leaks]…Background checks and polygraphs only say who they someone is, what they have done, not what they will do."

His comments come in the wake of the arrest of NSA analyst Harold Thomas Martin III, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, the same firm where Snowden was a contractor. Martin is suspected of “hoarding” classified materials going back as far as a decade in his house and car, and the recent leak of the hacking tools tipped investigators to what he was doing. This “Snowden-like character” is still under custody, while Snowden has been granted asylum in Russia, whose extradition to the US is impossible on “legal and moral” grounds according to the Russia’s ambassador.

The high-profile leaks of recent years have done little to shake the private sector awake, however. Organizations defrauded by staff and contractors are unwilling to air their problems in court and engage in long and costly civil disputes. Meanwhile, revelations of surveillance on personal privacy by the US government have stirred up emotions among public. Snowden’s lawyers and human-rights groups have launched a campaign to persuade President Obama to grant him a pardon, because much of what Snowden revealed exposed intrusions on the privacy of American citizens. This effort to win a pardon for Snowden has faced a powerful pushback from both Democrats and Republicans as the disclosures also include intelligence activities that didn’t impinge on the privacy of Americans.

Lowry estimates that insider leaks constitute a major overlooked threat, something that ignites his anger like “whenever someone stabs you in the back,” but as a professional in counterintelligence, his job as an investigator will inevitably be “the role of a lifetime”.

Chief editor: Natalie (Mengqi Zhou), 0163100442

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South China Sea group members:   

This is a worthwhile attempt to sum up several developments in and around the South China Sea. But you’ve somehow overlooked

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to visit China for the first time this week in a potentially important geo-political switch – even though you’ve included Duterte at the end of your piece.  In any case, your lead should have spelled out that you’re talking about U.S. Navy ships -- or that it’s the U.S. Navy News Service that is reporting the latest U.S. naval maneuver. In every piece, you must include such details so that the reader may easily understand the significance of a news development. In your lead, you mention neither the U.S. nor China – depriving the story of the context that it needs in order to be meaningful. What’s more, the name of the expeditionary strike group isn’t necessary in the lead – the name doesn’t in and of itself matter very much. Instead, it would be better to say something like this if you’re leading on the U.S. naval maneuver xxx

A U.S. Navy strike group joined two guided-missile cruisers from a Pacific Surface Action Group for drills in international waters, Oct. 3 and 4, the U.S. Navy News Service reported, amid U.S.-Chinese tension over disputes in the South China Sea. xxx  

The idea is to give readers a reason why they should continue to read your piece, that is, why it matters and why they should care. Lower down, you could support your chosen lead with more information about the U.S. Navy expeditionary strike group – including its name – and a brief explanation of what such a naval force entails. For instance, you might add a line such as xxx The expeditionary strike group  combines the capabilities of surface action groups, submarines, and maritime patrol aircraft with those of Amphibious Ready Groups and special operations-capable Marine Expeditionary Units to provide greater combat capabilities to combat commanders xxx 

Also, when you mention a group such as ASEAN, you must spell out its full name and include a sentence that lists all its member countries.

In other words, you can’t have any holes in your stories. Each must answer any questions that it might raise from any reasonably intelligent reader. You can’t assume that your readers know anything about the subject that you’re writing about.

You’ve got a grade of 80 for this group report (out of a potential 100).

~jw

Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary

Strike Group, Pacific Surface Action Group

Link up fuelsB tension in South China Sea

SOUTH CHINA SEA—The Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group joined two guided-missile destroyers from the Pacific Surface Action Group for a series of interoperability drills in international waters, Oct.3 and 4, reported by Navy News Service.

  According to Kyodo News Agency, the U.S. military aims to balance the power of China, which is reportedly increasingly flexing its muscles to assert control over the South China Sea.

  Asean, as it approaches its 50th anniversary, has overcome a number of crises and challenges to its unity and integrity. As the tension is continuously increased, developments in the South China Sea are the latest challenge to Asean solidarity.

Singapore, facing growing diplomatic pressure from China as regional tensions flare over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, urged Beijing to engage "constructively" with other regional players including the U.S. to ease tensions in the disputed South China Sea, even as the city-state wraps up a deal here to sharpen its military skills, while Cambodia, as a key ally and economic partner of China, supports Beijing’s ongoing dispute with other Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea.

Recently, Philippine President Duterte threatened to end alliance with the United States and gave Beijing a timely boost in its quest for more control over the strategically vital South China Sea. Three month ago, China rejected the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, and an icy chill overcame the once-friendly bilateral relationship between China and Philippine. Due to its location and history, the Philippines is central to the US efforts to check China‘s expansion in the region.

Analysts believe Mr. Duterte's attraction to a rising China is typical of his ultra-pragmatic governing style, following repeated speeches from him highlighting what he believes is the United States' diminishing economic and military m  

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Mainland-Taiwan group members,

 

You’re off to a good start with this piece, nicely summarizing the recent back-and-forth across the Taiwan Strait. But there are several things that should be done to make this a more interesting, compelling read. First of all, the lead would be stronger if it had more of an historical sweep.

Perhaps you could say, for instance, that xxx China told Taiwan on Tuesday that it must take concrete actions to back up its stated goodwill toward the mainland it has resisted joining since a civil war that ended nearly seven decades ago. Responding to a major speech by Taiwan’s new leader, Tsai Ing-wen, a Chinese government spokesman said xxx

The lead, as you’ve written it, starts with a bureaucratic title that would be better to bring in lower down in your piece. Remember, the lead is meant to draw in your readers, not put them to sleep or turn them away.

Also, you need to include some background on the split between the mainland and Taiwan.  Something like this: China and Taiwan split in 1949 at the end of China’s civil war. Beijing still views the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Reporters call such background a “nut ‘graf” – because it contains the bare-bones information needed to put a development in its context.  You could add information to such a paragraph to explain the significance of the U.S. connection to which you’ve alluded as well. Thus, you might say something like:  Washington is the leading arms supplier to self-ruled Taiwan, despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

The point is that you’re trying to pack as much relevant information into your report as possible without adding many words so that readers come away with a complete picture of a given development, its significance and the context.

There’s another issue that arises in your report – something that we should discuss in class. Specifically, you’ve used quotation marks around the words president, National Day, Republic of China. Using such quote marks is no doubt in line with the Chinese government practice in matters involving Taiwan. But you should reflect Beijing’s view without appearing to be siding with it, to the extent that you’re working as a professional journalist. In other words, you can say in a separate sentence, Beijing regards Taiwan as an illegitimate breakaway province. After saying so, there’s no need to use such quote marks around the terms in question if you want to perform as professionally as possible.

In the last sentence, you’ve misspelled the name of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. It’s Daniel Russel, not Russei.

For your headline, perhaps it would be better to say xxx China to Taiwan: Act, Don’t talk xxx (Instead of

Chinese mainland responded Taiwan: no play of words)    

You’ve got a grade of 80 for this group report (out of a possible 100).

~jw

Chinese mainland responded Taiwan: no play of words

Beijing — A spokesman for Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday said that their so-called goodwill must be supported by actions, but not words, in respond to Tsai Ing-wen’s speech.

 

An Fengshan, the spokesman for Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council RPC, said that “the political basis and nature of relationship between Chinese mainland and Taiwan is something that can’t be denied and there is no way to ignore the problem” at a regular press conference in Beijing, October 12, 2016.

 

An also said that the 1992 Consensus, which affirms that both sides of the Straits belong to one China, is a fundamental political basis to the cross-Straits relations. Taiwan’s leaders’ attitude towards the Consensus is a touchstone for Chinese mainland to test their so-called goodwill.

 

Earlier on October 10, Taiwan's new “president”, Tsai Ing-wen, delivered her first “National Day” speech, in which she claimed to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and called on the two government to engage in positive dialogue. “I call on the Chinese mainland authorities to face up the facts of the existence of the "Republic of China" and Taiwan people's firm belief in the democratic system,” she also said in her speech outside the Presidential Office that they will neither bow to pressure nor back to the old way of confrontation.

 

Meanwhile, the U.S. says it supports the Taiwanese leader's call for dialogue with China amid increased tensions between the self-governing island and the communist government in Beijing, according to the Associated Press.

 

Daniel Russei, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said Tuesday that the U.S. has a "deep and abiding interest" in stability across the Taiwan Strait, and welcomes constructive steps by both sides to improve relations. He called for flexibility, creativity and patience.