If Chai Jing were not a host of China Central Television (CCTV), she could be a good newspaper journalist*. The reports in her new book “Insight” are good examples of journalism, with direct quotes, details and human interest.

    During the past decade, Chai has been part of China’s important moments and hot issues. She has reported on China’s fight against SARS in 2003, the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the controversial* incidents of land requisition*, the Yao Jiaxin murder case in 2011 among others.

    Those reports have impressed* audiences and defined Chai as an investigative* journalist. All those memories are recorded in this book, along with the back stories beyond the lens and what Chai has seen and felt. It is both a documentation* of Chinese society, depicting* its changes in the past decade, and an autobiography* of Chai’s personal growth.

    Being unbiased* is the basic requirement of being a journalist, and this book passes muster* by that standard.

    For example, when the true identity of a woman who abused* cats and had her behavior filmed and loaded online was found out in 2006, most people harshly criticized the woman and the man who served as a photographer. Chai, instead, found that the woman did it to vent* her depression* after a divorce and the man shot the video for 2,000 yuan (then around US$250) for a website. The website which paid people to have such videos shot was the mastermind behind the event. Chai also questioned the motives of those netizens who enjoyed watching such videos.

    There are no “good guys” or “bad guys,” one of Chai’s colleagues once said. There are only people who “did the right things” or “made the wrong choices.”

    In her book, Chai tries to explore the motives of her interviewees and show people the missing links in many extraordinary stories.

    In a word, she doesn’t judge people. Her book questions the ubiquitous* public opinions and calls for a rare understanding, tolerance and care for other people. (SD News)