2023's most influential online China journalists
CNBC's Evelyn Cheng is the year’s most influential online China journalist, according to a China Book Review analysis, while CNN journalists occupied six of the top ten positions.
The index, based on daily Google News results for China-related stories, considers each author’s share of stories that are in the first position on the platform and the total number of days these leading stories persist in any position, a measure of their impact over multiple news cycles.
Among Cheng's work with the highest staying power last year were reports on China-Russian trade and the country's post-Covid economic recovery. Cheng, currently based in Beijing, previously covered markets from CNBC’s New Jersey headquarters.
CNN's Simone McCarthy debuted on the index in second. Previously with the South China Morning Post, her analysis of the country’s Covid and the South Pacific's role in the US-China contest were among her most impactful stories. Colleague Laura He's coverage of China's economy for CNN saw her take third place, up from fifth last year.
Google's significant share of web traffic makes rankings on its news aggregation site a useful proxy for an article's and journalist’s reach. Both the story position and endurance measures are equally weighted. Co-authors were credited equally regardless of byline order. Google provides limited information on the algorithms that drive story selection.