One of the more ironic experiences in modern journalism is to translate criticism of the American media from China’s state-controlled version.
This article from China’s state-run Nan Fang Daily takes a a few digs at America’s “free press” by examining the recent controversy surrounding the firing of commentator Juan Williams by publicly-funded National Public Radio and his resulting huge contract with privately-owned Fox News.
Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see Beijing permitting its citizens to engage in some deep thinking about free expression. The author of this rather detailed article, Xue Yong, even poses to his readers the question: “Many people think Juan William should have the freedom to express his feelings. If feelings are expressed freely, it can lead to necessary public discussion – and what’s so bad about that?”
For the Nan Fang Daily, Xue Yong writes in small part:
In the United States, the idea of “freedom of speech” sounds simple enough, but it’s easier said than done. When there are no fundamental conflicts of values and interests, finding common ground is easy, and small differences can be tolerated. But when there are fundamental conflicts of values and interests, it is inevitable that people will do everything in their power to revoke the opposing side’s right to speak.
Last October, National Public Radio triggered a major dispute. The broadcaster was the first to have Black political commentator Juan Williams. But as his reputation in the media grew, he became a regular guest on the station with the most conservative mindset, right-wing Fox News. The liberal leadership of NPR brooded over this. One day, while appearing on a Fox News program with one of its most right-wing hosts, Juan Williams said he got nervous when sitting on a plane next to someone wearing Muslim garb. Two days later, NPR responded with a phone call by Vice President Ellen Weiss, who fired Williams and triggered a huge U.S. media eruption.
Many people think he should have the freedom to express his feelings. If feelings are expressed freely, it can lead to necessary public discussions – and what’s so bad about that? However, the leadership of NPR won’t budge. As president, Vivian Schiller once took a dig at Juan Williams in a speech, saying that his private feelings are matters for him and his psychiatrist, but that bringing them out into the public domain for discussion violated NPR‘s professional standards. Although she later apologized for her remarks, they obviously angered even more people.
After firing Juan Williams, NPR quickly discovered the difficulty of finding another Black person in media with the same top notch reputation to take his place. That is something that the left-wing, which has always made it a mission to defend the interests of Black people, has been unable to justify.
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