A new report by public policy organisation China Matters rejects claims that Australia’s media are “anti-China”, explains that reporters’ access in China is uniquely constrained, and calls for two-year Chinese language scholarships for mid-career Australian journalists.

The report, which Sydney-based China Matters commissioned me to produce as a former Beijing correspondent, also recommends that programs be established for leading media executives to visit China through the Australian embassy there.

It also called for arrangements to be negotiated with Beijing to allow reporters to conduct short-term assignments in China without official Chinese sponsorship, and that Chinese official visitors to Australia — and Chinese executives with prominent investments in Australia — should make themselves available for interview.

Public life in Australia has become caught up in a ferment of debate about China, with lists drawn up of those “for” or “against”. And the media have been blamed by some prominent commentators and businesspeople as cheerleaders of the “anti-China” camp.

Please click here to read the full “Covering China a unique dilemma” article published in The Australian Business Review, written by Griffith Asia Institute Industry Fellow, Rowan Callick.