In China, the court of first hearing is the local TV news. Watch any local news program around dinner time (though be forewarned you may suffer stomach upset from some of the images) and then again around 10pm. Most of the time the reports are of complaints being aired;: car accidents – automobile drivers and cyclists alike – corrupt or bullying police, vapor-bargains that disappear when unwary customers present fake coupons to store clerks, husbands who find themselves victims of bigamy, wives who find themselves scorned. Many times the camera crew is at the scene even before the police arrive, a reporter interviewing the aggrieved before the police have made their official report. In most instances the local TV reporter becomes an on-the-spot investigator and the broadcast becomes the court and jury, meting out judgements that are more a salve to the aggrieved than a genuine and objective inquiry into the root of the situation. Much of the theatrics involved in such “journalism” haves a great deal to do with a deeply ingrained distrust the public has of local judiciaries, which they believe to be capricious and collusive in their decisions . The aggrieved believe the court of public opinion is the fastest, most effective way to get have their hearing and receive their restitution. They hold out little hope thate they’ll get a fair hearing or any enforcement of compensation payment should they go through government channels. And yet most Chinese audiences will fall on the side of their government when grievances involve Western parties.

Read more about the business side of “Managing the Message”, to be published in my column “Challenging China,” appearing in the November 2009 issue of Eurobiz Magazine.