Thread by @bibekbhandari

After six years, I’ve left @SixthTone. Or conditions were created for me to leave after publishing a project that criticized “zero-COVID,” which landed multiple people in hot water. It’s been bittersweet leaving a place we’ve built over the years but it was time.

(A long 🧵)

The chaos started in mid-January. I received a message from my immediate manager about our Year in Review 2022.

“Things are getting serious,” the text read.

By then, the project which I conceptualized and curated was already offline.

web.archive.org/web/2022122610…

In early January, a Weibo post from the deputy director of the China Institute at Fudan University had slammed Sixth Tone’s Year in Review.

He wrote that the topics from our coverage were “very critical” of China.

https://twitter.com/itrulyknownchi1/status/1615735785864716290?s=20

The Weibo post started making rounds after @itrulyknownchi1 tweeted it. A comment on the post said that the writing was similar to the BBC, CNN, and the New York Times (I wrote that). Probably, Sixth Tone was likely to get into trouble for this.

https://twitter.com/CarlMinzner/status/1615749697167056896?s=20

And we did. I’m unsure of the role that the Weibo post played in what ensued, but I was told the project enraged certain people in Beijing — our criticism of the “zero-COVID” policy had crossed the line.

“Be positive, but always prepare for the worst,” my manager told me.

It wasn't even a harsh criticism imo — it was severe and some actions were outright silly.

I was told the bosses at Sixth Tone and its sister publication, The Paper, were made to write apologies and self-reflect. But harsher punishments were in order this time, unlike before.

In 2019, the commentaries team was largely prohibited from publishing for a month as a punishment for “too much” coverage on migrant relocation.

Other times, censors would be tough for a few weeks, after we published “sensitive” stories, and then the restrictions would relax.

But it was different this time. I was told some people were temporarily suspended for the Year in Review project. There's never clarity on anything.

My immediate manager was given the option to take a different role, a demotion. She chose to leave Sixth Tone.

I was on leave while this was unfolding and wasn’t sure what to expect when I returned. My boss was already furious with me for taking a few more days off & rejected me working from home. I hadn’t been home for over 2 years and had personal business to finish, so I stayed longer.

When I returned, my boss told me I was “not a good team leader” and he wanted me to “just be an editor” instead of “head of news.” With a 40% pay cut.

It was a “demotion,” while I’d still be doing all the work, for a lot less money.

LOL

BTW, I’ve been the only news editor since June 2021, singlehandedly managing ST’s news coverage. I hired new reporters, improved work efficiency, favored hybrid work, scrapped unnecessary meetings, and encouraged work-life balance.

The boss didn't like my way or working.

I asked the ed-in-chief to give reasons for my “demotion” in writing. Nothing came.

I believe I was being punished for the Year in Review project. It was consistent w/ what happened with my manager & another colleague who was at the Nov. protest.

We were all made to leave.

I resigned. Demand for “positive stories” was growing. Censorship getting worse. And the place has been utterly mismanaged. Space for stories that we previously published without any hiccups is shrinking. It’s not the same place I joined. It was the right time to move on.

Internal censorship has also tightened since January — worse than in 2022, which I thought was the worst.

A new “risk control officer” now vets stories more cautiously before they even reach the “censors.” “Zero-COVID” references are taboo.

We were specifically warned not to write about the Shanghai lockdown anniversary and be careful of what we posted on personal social media.

We were told if our posts drew attention and someone would notice it, the consequences could be “worse” than the Year in Review project.

The bosses also want fewer gender/LGBT stories. Just a day after Women’s Day, I was told we’d been publishing only “women-related” news stories for several days, and that we should “take a break for a day or two to look at other topics.”

However, Sixth Tone still manages to publish such stories, less frequently though. It’s also getting harder to publish them.

All credit goes to the reporters and editors who go to lengths to make that happen.

Sixth Tone tells China stories well, and my time there has helped me to learn about Chinese society, one story at a time.

It’s been a fulfilling experience to work with an award-winning team despite the frustrations. Just look at the SOPA nominations.

sopawards.com/the-sopa-award…

I’m proud to have worked with @WanqingZhang65 on gender and LGBT stories — “sensitive topics” that our bosses disliked. We worked tirelessly on multiple stories, including the scoop on the rise in domestic violence cases during the 2020 lockdowns. sixthtone.com/news/1005253

It was a privilege working with @yuanyeahyuan on the environment and social stories. We couldn’t beat WSJ to this story, but we were pretty close. The story was taken down shortly after publication, and it greatly affected our lockdown coverage.

web.archive.org/web/2022040110…

.@peiyue_jess has done some of the best labor stories for Sixth Tone. We were both so stressed breaking the Henan rural banking story. We were first told we couldn’t publish, then given a two-hour window to write, edit, and publish.

sixthtone.com/news/1010547

Peiyue and I also worked on a follow-up protest story, and Sixth Tone was among the first to report it. But it was later censored.

At Sixth Tone, we’re not racing to break news but instead to beat any censorship directives.

web.archive.org/web/2022071008…

It was a great experience collaborating with @yaling_jiang and @BeimengFu on the 2021 Henan flood story. Also, I’m glad to have been part of Beimeng’s story on COVID crisis in rural China earlier this year.

sixthtone.com/news/1012125

Personally, a story that’ll stick with me is one of my earliest works at ST — I spent hours interviewing a male sex worker about his life and work. This was edited by @qianjinghua and it was a pleasure working with them on dozens of other stories.

sixthtone.com/news/1000169

My legacy at ST is the Shanghai lockdown project. We managed to accomplish this while dealing with our own traumas. I’m grateful for the entire team and glad this oral history of the lockdown exists.

It's been nominated for this year's SOPA.

interaction.sixthtone.com/feature/2022/M…

Sixth Tone has, and had, some of the best journalists who work, and have worked, exhaustively and with integrity to make the outlet shine. I just hope the management treated its employees fairly and with dignity in terms of salaries and contracts, especially local reporters.

While we write about injustices, we often tend not to call out the company BS. Unfair actions by the management & HR have been normalized. We don’t stand up for each other collectively. I hope those still there reflect on it, though things are unlikely to change.

Right after I left, I received this message. I was shocked and enraged. I had no idea this was happening. Sharing the screenshot with permission.

I really hope the work culture improves at ST, and I do hope you’ll continue reading Sixth Tone and support the work my colleagues do. And I truly hope what we’ve created so far — the trust, the credibility, the audience — don’t lose relevance and its place.

I hope Sixth Tone’s stories have also made you interested in China and Chinese culture + society. Now that the borders are open, do visit China — there’s so much to explore and experience. You’ll be amazed.

As for myself, I’ve moved home, to Nepal. I’ll take time to recharge, then start job hunting — it’s exciting and nerve-racking. My DM is open if you have any freelance gigs, story commissions, or job leads. If you’re in Kathmandu, coffee is an option, too. Or let’s meet for tea.