Western Media Teaches China a ‘Lesson’
April 29th, 2008 by WILLIAM KERN
![[Het Parool, The Netherlands]](http://www.parool.nl/columnisten/joep_bertrams/beeld/041608-doodstraf.jpg)
One must hand it to the Beijing authorities. It takes tremendous gall for a regime that outlaws press freedom or open criticism of any kind, to liken the failure of Western reporters to parrot the Communist Party line to a lapse of journalistic ethics.
According to Shen Xinggeng, senior Desk Editor at the strictly state-controlled People’s Daily:
“If news reporters don’t respect basic facts, how can they talk so glibly about ‘objectivity and fairness’? During news coverage, Western media regularly underscores objectivity and fairness; whereas in China there is said to be only propaganda or preaching. … It seems that in the West, ‘press freedom’ means the ‘freedom to spread rumors,’ the ‘freedom to tell lies,’ the ‘freedom to make distortions,’ the freedom to ‘vilify’ and the freedom to ’spread slander.’”
Ironically, Mr. Shen ends by saying that thanks to the West’s perceived lack of journalistic ethics, ‘even average people, let alone students of journalism’ received a lesson in true journalistic objectivity.
By Shen Xinggeng
April 29, 2008
People’s Republic of China - People’s Daily - Original Article (English)
Western media have been “lecturing” us of late. On March 14, an act of serial criminality involving assaults, the destruction of property, looting and arson took place in Lhasa, with Western media paying extraordinary attention. These media outlets are, among others, Agence France Presse, RTL and NTL of Germany, the British Broadcasting Corporation of Britain, and the Washington Post and CNN of the United States.
The mass of readers and viewers, nevertheless, can hardly fathom these lengthy reports: How can obvious homicide and arson committed by a few law-breakers be cited as “peaceful protest,” and how can the frenzied assault on law-enforcement personnel who failed to hit back when attacked be called the suppression of Tibetans by the Chinese government?
Even worse, CNN host Jack Cafferty maliciously attacked Chinese products as “junk,” and the Chinese people as, “basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.” He simply curses and swears, “like a shrew letting loose a stream of abuse in the street.” [Editor’s Note: A shrew is defined as an ill-tempered woman.]
Therefore, ordinary people in China can no longer stand what Western media have been doing. Hence, Chinese have been quietly collecting and sifting through huge amounts of ironclad proof, and have replied with a forceful rebuttal that has exposed the false reports of the Western media. Meanwhile, nationals of the Chinese origin and Chinese expatriates and students have held mammoth but peaceful and virtuous protests and demonstrations in the United States, Britain, Germany and France to protests the distorted reporting of Western media.
The rebuttal by Chinese Netizens and the protests of Chinese expats (and students) around the world have been unprecedented, both in terms of scale and effect - and they far-exceeded the expectations of those cocky, arrogant media people in the West. That said, I would very much like to raise two questions for people to dwell upon
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing foreign press coverage of the unfolding story regarding China and the West.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 5:26 pm and is filed under Freedom of the Press, News, TV News, Political Philosophy, Human Rights, Journalism, CNN, Newspapers, Media, Cartoon Commentary, Europe, China, Education, Foreign Affairs, Political Cartoons, Freedom of Speech, Media Criticism, Blogging. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
