Ben Chu

Journalist

Economics Editor of The Independent and freelance writer and broadcaster

Ben Chu is Economics Editor of The Independent, the UK's largest quality digital news brand, and a freelance current affairs broadcaster. In 2019 he spent a year as economics editor of BBC Newsnight, a period for which the programme was named Daily News Programme of the Year by the Royal Television Society TV journalism awards. He is also the author of Chinese Whispers: Why Everything You’ve Heard About China is Wrong

Writing.

Apr 2, 2020

The wrongs and rights of disaster price gouging

The market fundamentalists are not entirely wrong to warn against the popular urge to stamp out price fluctuations.

Mar 26, 2020

Has China really defeated coronavirus?

Looking beneath the bonnet of the headline data suggests declarations of victory against this new virus are premature.

Mar 25, 2020

Let's try and be more sophisticated about the reality of 'science'

The characterisation of “the science” as a fixed thing isn’t helpful and could even be dangerous.

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Television.

Selected films and reports for BBC Newsnight - RTS Daily News Programme Of The Year 2019

View Youtube channel for more videos

Radio.

Analysis: The Future Of Welfare

00:00 / 28:00

The Inquiry: Will a pandemic ever kill millions again?BBC World Service, The Inquiry

00:00 / 23:02

Listen to Ben's documentary for the BBC World Service

How coronavirus will impact the economyThe Inependent Coronavirus Podcast

00:00 / 32:03

Listen to Ben's Indepenent podcast on the economics of the Covid-19 emergency

Listen to Ben's programme for BBC Radio 4

Books.

'Chu's smart, iconoclastic portrait dismantles seven misconceptions about modern China and offers a corrective to Western assumptions.' New Statesman

THE CHINESE ARE THE MOST HARDWORKING PEOPLE ON EARTH...
So why are the younger generation derided as spoiled and lazy?

CHINESE PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT POLITICAL FREEDOM...
So why is the country's internet exploding with anti-regime dissent?

CHINA WILL ONE DAY RULE THE WORLD...
So why do the country's political leaders feel so insecure?

Perhaps it is time to stop engaging in a centuries-old game of Chinese whispers in which the facts have become more and more distorted in the telling.

Ben Chu examines the myths that have come to dominate our view of the world's most populous nation, forcing us to question everything we thought we knew about it. The result is a penetrating, surprising and provocative insight into China today.