Un
redattore del Southern Weekend racconta la storia del latte
contaminato e prova a sviscerare le problematiche legate alla
censura in Cina. Lo fa su un blog, il suo, perché ha da togliersi dei sassolini e ha timore che se lo facesse sul suo giornale passerebbe rischi ben più gravi (e non solo lui). Il suo post in cinese, pubblicato sul blog è
già stato tradotto, visto che è assai probabile che a
breve potrà sparire (anzi mentre lo pubblico mi pare che la versione cinese sia già stata rimossa, perché non mi carica la pagina in questione: qui il testo copiato in cinese, dopo la traduzione in inglese). Allora, lo ripubblico qui sotto in inglese, tanto
mi pare comprensibile, con una breve nota, questa: sarà anche
vero che il concetto di qualità nella produzione industriale
cinese è veramente labile, ma basti pensare a una qualsiasi
puntata di report sull‘industria alimentare occidentale per
capire che riempiono di merda qualsiasi cibo che mangiamo. Non è
una giustificazione per la Cina: è una caratteristica dello
sviluppo economico di una capitalismo che vive anche di disastri
e che su questi pare trovare, ultimamente, un terreno di sviluppo
molto ampio.
Allo
stesso modo l’esperienza di questo redattore è comune a molti
altri suoi omologhi in Cina, ma non solo. Non solo latte, ma anche altri scandali,
spesso, sono coperti, nonostante la verve di inchiesta di molti
giornalisti cinesi. Il web, il cellulare e le moderne tecnologie
permettono spesso a queste persone di riuscire comunque a comunicare
quanto succede, rendendo sempre più fioca l’aura dei mezzi di
comunicazione ufficiale (non solo in Cina) e con essa la possibilità
di riscontrare anche in Cina un livello di opinione pubblica che
come ha sconvolto il sistema mediatico occidentale, potrebbe anche
seminare elementi di contraddizione al solido sistema cinese. Insomma insieme allo scandalo si pone anche un altro problema, decisamente in stretta connessione anche con la questione piccola piccola italiana: che senso ha oggi un’informazione privata (dei grandi gruppi o del governo) pubblica (ovvero di massa)? Come il cibo anche l’informazione è avariata, contaminata, truccata, viziata: e allora: chi fa informazione vera?
Let
Me Skin Sanlu Alive: The Notes Of A News Editor About The Sanlu
Tainted Milk Powder Case
1. Actually,
our reporter He Feng had received the information at the end of
July that more than 20 babies were hospitalized for kidney stones
in Tongji Hospital, Wuhan city, Hubei province as a result of
consuming the tainted Sanlu milk powder. But for reasons that
everybody knows, we were not able to investigate the case at that
time because harmony was needed everywhere. As a news editor,
I was deeply concerned because I sensed that this was going to be a
huge public health catastrophe. But I could not send any reporters
out to investigate. Therefore, I harbored a deep sense of guilt and
defeat at the time. I tried my best to tell all my friends and
acquaintances not to use the Sanlu milk powder.
At
the time, our reporter He Feng was already checking out the
situations at a number of hospitals in Hubei, Hunan and Jiagxi. The
doctors were highly suspicious that there was a problem with Sanlu.
They reminded every family that came to the hospital with infant
problems not to use Sanlu. At the time, I checked Baidu and all I
could find were doubts being raised by some parents about this brand.
We could only wait, wait, wait.
2. After
the Olympics was over, my esteemed colleague He Feng began to
investigate. He went to Hubei, Hunan and Guangdong. […] Finally, he
basically confirmed that a causal relationship between Sanlu baby
powder and kidney stones in babies could be established. This
investigation took more than ten days. It was difficult. Before the
investigation, some of the parents in Hunan were paid off by Sanlu
to keep quiet. Many newspapers in Hubei had to stay silent
because Sanlu used its connections with the authorities. Certain
local reporters who took part in the investigation were bitter but
helpless about the way Sanlu shut the media down.During the first
part of September, I discovered that it was impossible to find
negative information about Sanlu on the Baidu search engine. […]
During
the investigative process, I reminded my colleague He Feng repeatedly
to be careful. If the evidence should be insufficient, we
would lost a lawsuit. I also reminded him that our investigation must
be conducted secretly without the Sanlu Company being aware. As a
large corporation, Sanlu has powerful backers. If they can shut down
the Hubei media, they can also shut down something like Southern
Weekend. In order to maintain our objectivity, we can publish the
"pass" test results for Sanlu at the same time. This would
be fair, and the public can decide whether the product really passes
or not. During the process, there were many parents who kept asking
questions because they want an explanation about the victimization of
their children. There were also many righteous doctors who provided
first-hand evidence to our reporter. But I was extremely disappointed
in our relevant government departments. During our investigation,
we discovered that the General Administration for Quality Inspection
had come up with "passed" reports in June and July, so
that the chances for an alert was missed again and again. I was also
extremely disappointed with the Food and Drug Administration, which
did not take any action even though the reports from many doctors
indicated that there was an explosion of kidney stones in babies. The
Disease Control Center of our Ministry of Health did not issue an
epidemiological alert and it did not conduct any investigation. Most
of all, I was disappointed and angry at the Sanlu Company for
covering up the truth repeatedly and blocking the media so that more
than 400 babies were victimized.
We
want the truth. We want to race against time. We want to remove
the doubts about this public health matter. This was the
motivation and belief that impelled me and my colleague He Feng.
3. On
September 12, Xinhua carried the anonymous accusation by the Gansu
media against Sanlu. I realized that we had to report on this matter.
We had to openly challenge Sanlu. This was the only way to warn the
public about the food safety danger. We had already collected enough
information and we were confident regarding the law. But that does
not mean that we could get it published. On September 13, in spite of
repeated attempts by He Feng and I, the report was rejected. That
night, Sanlu was finally forced to admit to the problem of the
troubled milk powder and they issued a public recall. This was
somewhat comforting.
On
September 14, we posted the report <The difficult path to find
the cause of the kidney stones in babies> onto the Southern
Weekend website and Southern Metropolis Daily. This was small
compensation because our media alert was repeated prevented from
going out.
4. I
did not want to write these things, but I was really angered by Sanlu
again. So I had to write. At this time, Sanlu is claiming again
and again that the source of the contamination of the milk is through
the criminal milk cow farmers. But if the farmers were to pour feces
and urine into the milk, will you still put them into the milk
powder? Once you learn about the numerous cases of babies with kidney
stones, why were you busy shutting down the media and not issue any
warnings? Why did you only admit that there was a problem when things
went beyond control and then you put the blame on the milk cow
farmers?
Sanlu
also said that the victims ought to go to ask the milk cow farmers
for compensation. This is immoral behavior. The legal
reasoning is very simple: even if the milk cow farmers really did it,
the victims should ask compensation from Sanlu, which could then ask
the milk cow farmers for compensation.
I
also read that the suspects already arrested in Shijiazhuang are
unidentified. Reportedly, they were mostly milk cow farmers. What
kind of investigative logic is it not to look for the real
perpetrators and to look for peripheral details to distract the
central government and the people of the nation? I also want to ask
just what the State Quality Supervisory Administration has to say
about their negligence and cover-up? I also want to ask the
departments under the Ministry of Health how they explain their
dereliction of duty?
5. From
another angle, the people in the dairy industry have warned a long
ago that there was bound to be trouble. The vicious competition meant
that the dairy industry had to do battle at every stage from the milk
source to the final product in a vicious cycle, until Sanlu finally
destroyed itself. If state supervision and industry self-discipline
do not work, the devastation would go beyond baby milk powder to
reach the entire dairy industry. Every person who made money by
producing fake and inferior stuff thinks that he is ahead of the
game, but at the same time he is also hurt by others who are
doing the same elsewhere. We have lost far too heavily already. We
don’t want chaotic and unhygienic food. We don’t want an
evil-doing market economy. We want a good market economy. We want an
ethical market economy.
