The Global Times holds its first readers' day

• Source: Global Times
• [11:38 September 16 2009]
• Comments

The Global Times Thursday held its first readers' day since its launch on April 20 to listen to advice from readers.

"China deserves a better English language newspaper. The most important thing is to report China as it is and to tell our readers a true and complicated China," Zhang Yong, managing editor of the Global Times said in his opening remarks in the meeting with readers.

Invited guests of the first readers' day include officers from foreign embassies in China, media officers of non-profit organizations (NGOs), columnists and senior newspaper editors. The readers gave their opinions and suggestions for the newly-launched English newspaper.  

"Your newspaper should be very Chinese. You don't have to catch up with the western media. For me, why the Global Times, not New York Times? It's a point. As a foreigner, I'm interested in how Chinese think," Kato Yoshikazu, a Japanese columnist in China said, advising the newspaper to have more Chinese news.

"You have excellent people who work for the paper. It's a very good beginning and I'm very happy to be a reader," Harvey Dzodin, former ABC vice president added that the Global Times should make the paper available on iPhones.

"I like the in-depth section and life and arts section because I'd like to read original content that I'm not seeing anywhere else," said Paul Pennay, senior English Editor of Economic Observer Online.

While some of the foreign readers suggested more translations of Chinese newspapers, Bai Ping, a freelancer said the newspaper should not translate too many Chinese stories and he urged the Global Times to further improve its editing level and to make the website more multimedia-oriented.

At the end of the readers'meeting, three guests were awarded gifts from the Global Times for participating in the Q&A section which was designed to interact with readers.