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How to not write really good stories

By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-17 07:31

Zhang Mengsu, a high school graduate in Central China's Hubei province, became a national celebrity overnight.

On Sunday, the local Hubei tabloid newspaper, the Chutian Metro News, ran a feature story about how Zhang got herself admitted to an overseas "university". Unlike her peers much touted in the media recently for their top scores during the national college entrance exams in June, Zhang won the hearts of several teachers from Singapore because of "her readiness to help others and her ability to present herself".

The major Internet portals in China immediately picked up the story, her mug shot appearing in almost every major news website as well.

It is an almost perfect story of an ugly little duckling turning into a swan. Zhang scored only 445 during the national college entrance exam, which is good enough only to enter a community college in China. But her luck turned around when she helped a teacher with folding a tent when a heavy rain dispersed most other participants, during an enrollment fair a few weeks ago, according to the Chutian Metro News.

A teacher from Singapore was said to have been so impressed with Zhang's readiness to help others that the teacher told her to go for an interview. During the interview, Zhang reportedly chatted in both English and Chinese and shared her experiences of how she won prizes at a national robotic competition for teenagers and a comprehensive English test on the net.

At the end of the interview, Zhang simply got "pre-enrolled" in a "Singapore government polytechnic college" with financial aid amounting to 200,000 yuan.

Zhang's story offers a lot of netizens the right support for hailing the farsightedness of Singaporean educators. It has also aroused a one-sided heated discussion, revealing a high-level public dissatisfaction over the current college enrollment system almost solely based on the national college entrance exam scores.

In fact, 90 percent of the 90,000-odd netizens surveyed by sina.com praise Zhang as a perfect example of all-roundedness. It is reported that the laurels she has won in various local, provincial and national competitions have filled up several drawers in her room at home.

The discussions are inspiring in a way as there is the public consensus that our systems of education - from school curricula to college enrollment - should encourage students to pursue a variety of interests than the mere set textbooks and expose them to broader spheres of the society than the academic ivory tower.

While the discussion may be worthwhile, I fear that the original story of Zhang that has ignited it may not be truthful, and some media may be committing the sin of not verifying their sources before publishing the story.

The story was partly contributed by Zhang's school teacher, whose only source of information came from Zhang herself. It is said that the Chutian Metro News reporters also interviewed Zhang, but gleaned very little from her. The teacher said Zhang's enrollment was sealed in a contract, not a letter of admission. So far, none of the media has reached the very Singaporean teacher who led Zhang into the interview in a hotel, or the other four teachers who were present at the interview.

However, some staff working with the admissions of Singaporean colleges are threatening to sue for "double standards", some media, which phoned the five listed polytechnic colleges in Singapore, found that none of these colleges had information about Zhang's admissions.

Until yesterday the teacher and her school officials continued to defend her, saying that she will be leaving for Singapore in a matter of a couple of weeks.

But the question must be raised whether the media and the Internet should sacrifice credibility and truthfulness for the sake of sensationalism and web hits?

E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/17/2008 page8)