To be honest, I didn’t think that blog post merited quite the close analysis that MeiZhong was trying to give it. It was dull, and the MeiZhong piece isn’t rigorous enough to give the full refutation that such leaden repetition of commonplaces deserves.
What I want to know is when intelligent discussion of the western media is going to emerge in the Chinese blogs. At some point this willful misunderstanding of western news (where Chinese bloggers assume that any piece of media coming from the US is an expression of the will of the US government) will have to change.
Maybe it’s already there in some of the overseas blogs. Xue Yong has a go sometimes, but he seems to be a bit of a solitary figure. Gets a lot of readers, but I’ve never seen anyone linking or referring to him, or carrying on an issue that he picks up. I haven’t read mitbbs or the UK Chinese boards enough to know if any decent discussion goes on there. If it does, I’d love to see some of it relayed.

July 6, 2008 @ 8:12 pm | Comment

Phil, I thought the blog post was a good start. One of the few I’ve seen that put the emotions to the side and looked at it through an unbiased lens. I like the way it took the quotes from the “NYT is going CNN” post and then compare them to what was actually in the three NYT articles. Maybe the MeiZhong post could have been even more devastating, but it certainly got its point across to me.

July 6, 2008 @ 9:36 pm | Comment

I certainly found it interesting. We’ve been aware of these sorts of sham tactics from the Chinese media for a while, but to see them pulled apart in such a clear and detailed fashion is still very interesting and a credit to the author.

As richard says, yes sometimes North American and European media “get it wrong”. But that’s the same about topics that don’t include China, including their own home nations. This rule applies to all media groups around the world.

One can only hope that some day at least the mainstream Chinese media will mature and not seek to trash views of China simply because they’re generally negative and foreign. Whether that comes before or after the CCP cuts away its rigid media controls is anyone’s guess.

July 6, 2008 @ 11:13 pm | Comment

I’d say the majority that mentality about Western media has to do with living within state-run media in China. I hear a lot of people, and I wouldn’t say willfully, make assumptions about Western media that seem to be born right out of the situation here in China. (i.e. media voice = govt voice)
It’s hard to see out from the inside sometimes.
But yeah, there’s definitely a lot of willful ignorance as well.

July 6, 2008 @ 11:14 pm | Comment

It think part of the problem may come from this.

Newspaper director to overloaded journalist.
“Something big just happened in China! Write a well researched and carefully witting report about the event for the evening edition. You have 10 minutes before we start up the presses!”

No wonder some information gets mangled…

July 6, 2008 @ 11:33 pm | Comment

Who lost China this time?

The Chinese have always been cynical about their own media, but they held high regard for the Western media. This of course all changed after the coverage of the Tibeten unrest. It will be a long time before the Western media regain credibility in China, if they do at all.

So in a nutshell the media lost China this time. I don’t remember who lost China last time, the Democratic administration and the State Department?

However after all this development is healthy. It puts more pressure on the Western media, force them to do a better job next time. One day they will enter the Chinese market, and they’d better prepare themselves.

July 7, 2008 @ 12:01 am | Comment

I read xiaoding’s article a couple days ago I stopped half way through because it’s so boring. and somebody actually wrote a counter-article? wow, and it’s even more boring?

The western media’s problem, is not a matter of awareness or competence, like some ppl here would love to have you believe, who are you kidding, chinese may not understand english well but we aitnt dumb. The root of everything is that the western medias still dont think CCP is a legit government, they dont think CCP is a teen needs to set straight, they think CCP is an Abomination. They would love to see CCP gets snapped like a chop stick but what ‘s gonna happen to 1 billion chinese ppl is not their concern. That’s the fundmental difference between western media and chinese ppl. That’s why they dont see each other eye to eye. If this fundmental difference dont get to change over time, it’s only gonna get worse between them.

July 7, 2008 @ 7:20 am | Comment

I don’t think the Chinese people are dumb – very far from it. I do think a lot of them, like a lot of Americans, are naive and susceptible to canards like AntiCNN. Just like my compatriots fell for the most shameless slogan of all time re. Iraq, “We’re fighting them over there so we won’t have to fight them over here.” One difference, however, is that we have more of an opportunity to have our eyes opened to such nonsense, even if it takes a while. And sometimes we can even change things around.

Most Americans don’t know what the CCP is and don’t care. Most of them have been dazzled by the media’s exaggerations of China’s economic success and/or sickened by stories, also exaggerated and often altogether false, of China’s brutality to Tibetans. When you say the western media wants to see the CCP “snapped like a chop stick” what do you mean? The Western media criticize every government in power, especially their own. Maybe you don’t get that this is what they are supposed to do, and it doesn’t mean they want to destroy those governments. What do you see as the role of the media?

July 7, 2008 @ 8:08 am | Comment

Raj:
“As richard says, yes sometimes North American and European media “get it wrong”.”

Coldblooded3:
“The western media’s problem, is not a matter of awareness or competence, like some ppl here would love to have you believe, who are you kidding, chinese may not understand english well but we aitnt dumb. The root of everything is that the western medias still dont think CCP is a legit government, they dont think CCP is a teen needs to set straight, they think CCP is an Abomination. They would love to see CCP gets snapped like a chop stick but what ’s gonna happen to 1 billion chinese ppl is not their concern.”

Richard:
“Maybe you don’t get that this is what they are supposed to do, and it doesn’t mean they want to destroy those governments. What do you see as the role of the media?”

Have you seen how the corportate media operates these days? It is very different from the “golden years” of the 70s and 80. It reeks of sensationalism, with profit motivation as a top priority, which interferes with the ideals of journalism. Comparing a shell of the former MSM to CCP media which shouldn’t even be considered journalism gets none of you anywhere.

July 7, 2008 @ 9:43 am | Comment

snr, I frequently agree with you regarding commercialization and sensationalism (the latter is nothing new), but there is a lot of good journalism still going on in America, like the exposure of Bush’s wiretapping shenanigans, torture, Abu Ghraib, etc. Calling it “a shell” of what is was isn’t accurate.

When it comes to cable news, I tend to agree with you. In print, we still have some of the best reporters in the world mnking a lot of noise and ruffling a lot of feathers, despite their media being part of America’s disgraceful media-industrial complex.

July 7, 2008 @ 9:55 am | Comment

I thought I made myself clear by the word Abomination, of course Media is supposed to criticize any governments in power, and so are ppl, people v government is the single most important conflict of our society. But motives behind it are different, chinese ppl criticize CCP because they care; chinese media criticize CCP because it’s their job, and they care; the western media criticize CCP because it’s their job and, they hate CCP, every bit of it.

We just had an interesting thread about the positve things of China, lots of fun and friendly comments, what do you think would happen if we start a thread called postives thing about CCP? I just crossed a comment made by somebody here, he said what China has accompished over the past 30 yrs are DESPITE of CCP rulings, which means if CCP collapsed 30 yrs ago or in 1989, China would have been much better. You see that’s the typical mentality of the West, from “despite”, to CCP cant do nothing right, to evil chicoms should be erased from this planet like cockroaches(see freerepublic.com).

But to Chinese ppl, that notion is different, we dont just hate CCP, we hate-love CCP. CCP is the only legit government we have. Communists are not evil because they are simply us, my dad is a poor ass party memeber for 30 yrs, I know for sure he’s not evil… this is dragging too long, I m cutting it off.

July 7, 2008 @ 10:39 am | Comment

Most of them have been dazzled by the media’s exaggerations of China’s economic success and/or sickened by stories, also exaggerated and often altogether false, of China’s brutality to Tibetans.

I’m sure that those stories are often false. The broader point in the context of Chinese reaction to perceived western bias is this: if there are 100 stories about the mistreatment of Tibetans, only one of which can legitimately be claimed to be misleading, it is the lone report that is used to exemplify western media ‘bias’ and gets all the airtime.

I’m still waiting to read an example of balanced reporting on issues like the Tibetan riots in the Chinese media. This is no surprise, because balanced reporting isn’t possible when journalists (I hesitate to use the term) are told what they can and can’t say.

The most disturbing part of the anti-western media campaign is how readily the Chinese people buy into it. Where’s the critical question or the dissenting voice? All I hear in the classroom are the same lame arguments presented on CCTV and in China Daily.

July 7, 2008 @ 10:48 am | Comment

“CCP is the only legit government we have.”
I believe that you can thank the CCP and their political repression for that.
I’ve never understood the argument that says “without the CCP, who would fill the power vacuum?” Well, considering the CCP’s policies towards other parties, that could be a neverending excuse.

July 7, 2008 @ 10:55 am | Comment

That should have read:

I’m not sure that those stories are often false.

July 7, 2008 @ 11:06 am | Comment

Western Nations don’t like China’s success because they do not have china by the finger. So they put up any kind of kind of false propaganda to put down China.

July 7, 2008 @ 11:08 am | Comment

coldblood: You see that’s the typical mentality of the West, from “despite”, to CCP cant do nothing right, to evil chicoms should be erased from this planet like cockroaches(see freerepublic.com).

If you are going to point to Free Republic as representative of the American people, then we can forget any kind of rational discussion. That would be as absurd as me pointing to Epoch Times as representing the mentality of the Chinese people. Seriously coldblooded, just like the article that is critiqued in the post this thread is about, you are starting from a wildly inaccurate foundation, one of built-in bias and foregone conclusions that, unfortunately, are totally, totally false.

July 7, 2008 @ 11:10 am | Comment

Richard,

I said from “Despite”, which probably means liberal, to “CCP cant do nothing right”, which means modest, to “chicom are cockroaches” which means conservative. pretty much covered all politcal spectrum. Actually huffingtonpost uses the word chicom very often too …

Is my accusation false? just start “a good things about CCP” thread, see what happens.

July 7, 2008 @ 11:20 am | Comment

and, not to offend you my friend, I think it’s safe to say freerepublic.com probably CAN represent 45% of American ppl, considering Fox News’ viewers are more than the combination of CNN and MSNBC …

July 7, 2008 @ 11:27 am | Comment

Okay coldblooded, if you think Free Republic represents nearly half of America’s entire population, this argument is over, as we will not get anywhere.

Pete, excellent analysis. Spot on. Appreciate all the research that went into your comment.

July 7, 2008 @ 11:36 am | Comment

@Richard, you see? nobody likes it when their country is criticized …

I would say 45% — I call it homer index, is a good number, low enough to be a decent/progessive country, that number in China is probably 70%. A lot of posters over there really isnt too bad at all, they’re just pro God, pro millary. Come on, if you can’t even accept critisim from you fellow conservative Americans, how can tell chinese accept critisim from foreigners.

July 7, 2008 @ 11:59 am | Comment

Someone above said that Chinese people criticize the CCP cause they care. That is one reason, the other reason is that they themselves don’t like getting screwed.

CCP media criticizes the CCP cause thats their job and they care??? I would say that they criticize the CCP so they can look balanced and caring would be a conflict of interest because the CCP media don’t seem to be there to care, but to manipulate.

Westerners criticize the CCP because they HATE IT, simply? Nobody I know (granted I know some pretty fine people) goes around hating something for no reason. Most Westerners (in Canada) are NOT stupid rednecks who hate what their parents hate based on race or something like that. I am trying to figure out why you think that westerners blindly hate something for no reason? Do you really think that is possible? Don’t you think there must be a reason for the criticisms? Well I do, and I think the reason you don’t see it is because you are brainwashed, you like the party because that is whats in the plans for you. it is very fun to be part of this big Chinese lump who believe in this “one world one dream, we are so great and the CCP is excusable even though it loves to kill, as long as it kills for me and my money crap”. You feel cozy, you have your place in this lump and it feels nice and easy, yes, its always easiest to join the lump (especially when if you dont you will be tortured). Well the westerners can see this lump and they arent fooled by it, they see that you are brainwashed and that your government is lying and using you to hold power, they dont make excuses for the killing as you do, because they are not benefitting from it as you believe you are. I think thats the difference right there, westerners dont like the evilness cause they have no reason to make all kinds of excuses for it like you might have and westerners don’t eat the same crap served by the CCP as you do, so thats my interpretation. You can have a go at “the good things about CCP” if you want, personally i find it in bad taste since they are committing a lot of torture and murder of innocent people as we speak (I don’t mean your grampa, unless he is, is he in PSB? or so called justice department?)

Peace.

July 7, 2008 @ 12:04 pm | Comment

cold, you’re right about everything. And I never criticize my own country in this blog. Only China, because all Americans want China to fail, and whatever other Americans think, I go along with them because that’s how we Americans are. Putty in the hands of a media determined to bring China down. Bad, bad America.

July 7, 2008 @ 12:26 pm | Comment

snow, thank you for seeing deeply into my soul,and just when I was counting the days I have not been called brain-washed.

richie, now you talking like a woman.

July 7, 2008 @ 1:07 pm | Comment

Pete:

you been drinking the cool-aid as well?

America’s relationship with China, viewed historically, has been overwhelmingly positive. You are focusing on a small sampling of media, when the vast majority of people harbor positive feelings toward China – despite the country being a despotic government that snuffs out any individual liberties.

July 7, 2008 @ 1:41 pm | Comment

coldblooded is a satirist, right? because his/her risible arguments simply underline what the article is talking about. time and time again the ccp supporters simply prove they cannot punch their way out of a paper bag, and make themselves look ridiculous. tedious people like this are not worth debating with

July 7, 2008 @ 4:07 pm | Comment

LoL @ Coldblooded3. Man, you’re a riot.

So, Richard points out an article that is critical of Chinese criticisms of the West. Coldblooded3 hops on, warms up his fingers, and types out a bunch of ill-conceived presumptive arguments alleging that Richard can’t take criticism of his own country, ironically as a result of being butt-hurt about criticisms of his own (well, actually, probably his father’s as his English reeks of poor American/Western upbringing).

Seriously, you as a satarist would be awesome. Drop whatever you’re doing and go into it full-time. Cheers, mate.

July 7, 2008 @ 4:58 pm | Comment

I think this is expert analysis from the Guardian’s Jonathan Watts, concerning the issue of foreign media bias:

“China, I suspect, sometimes gets more negative coverage than it deserves because its old system of restricting the activities of foreign correspondents pushes them into taking sides. To do a sensitive story in the provinces, journalists used to have to choose between going officially and getting an overly rosy view of what was happening, or sneaking in without permission and hearing only the views of disgruntled peasants – many of whom have a financial incentive to exaggerate their woes because they want to use the media to seek compensation. The problem was that there was very little middle ground – and in many cases that is where the truth is probably to be found.

Forced to choose, most journalists often gave the benefit of the doubt to the little guy up against the system. With the domestic media often muzzled and the courts in the pocket of local officials, there was no other outlet for the voices of the oppressed. I try to get the official view too by calling the relevant government departments, but the spokesman’s system – despite a much heralded reform and expansion in 2003 – is not very helpful. Phones often ring unanswered or are quickly hung up.”

– from http://www.fccchina.org/onejournalistsveiw.html

This of course only applies to the discerning journalist for whom ‘truth’ is still the loftiest of ideals, those that consciously let it get in the way of telling a good story, and those that can therefore earn the trust of their readers.

July 8, 2008 @ 12:46 am | Comment

It’s no wonder that the Chinese, as a society, are so resistant to criticism. The lack of free speech will do that to a people.

An important consequence of freedom of speech in democratic societies is that it raises the quality of the people by promoting the emergence of certain admirable character traits – i.e., tolerance, curiosity, and independence of mind. Sadly, such traits are sorely lacking in your average mainland Chinese.

Why bother debating the relative merits of the Chinese and western systems? Why waste your breath trying to convince mainland Chinese that the western media really is better than the Chinese media? What could
you possibly hope to gain? Simply put, few Chinese are prepared to listen to, much less consider, such arguments. The Chinese system has rendered its people intolerant, thin-skinned, insecure, and quick to anger. Don’t expect this to change anytime soon.

July 8, 2008 @ 12:51 am | Comment

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/25/india.violence/index.html

Dear Western Medias, and that freedom loving Raj, Where is the outcry for this crackdown?
The untouchables of India, have been treated like shit for 3000 yrs, now they took on streets, and got shot at by police.
Has any activist started boycott of the Commenwealth games in India 2010?
Has any congressman called out Bush to withdraw the nuke deal?
And isnt the tone of this CNN article amazing? he was like describing a cat fell over a tree.
Where is NYT? they had 4 stupid stories about China in one day but nothing to say about 35 killed by police?

And you people still trying so hard to convince us there is no media bias and double standard against China in the west?

July 8, 2008 @ 12:53 am | Comment

#24 @bigdog

According to a recent poll, most Americans say that China is the biggest threat to world peace.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/poll010724.html

In 2001, there was a poll as Asian Americans seen negatively…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/04/27/MN199998.DTL

July 8, 2008 @ 2:57 am | Comment

If a reasonable person were to say that there is a “media bias and double standard against China in the west” then that same reasonable person would also have to conclude that there is a media conspiracy and a double standard against the west in China.

I consider myself to be a reasonable person.

July 8, 2008 @ 4:18 am | Comment

Article in todays Washington Post

NBC to Measure Its Olympics Audience on New Media Platforms

By David Bauder
Associated Press
Monday, July 7, 2008

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/06/AR2008070601731.html

Short Summary
“NBC will use Olympics as billion-dollar research lab to determine how people are using different media platforms to experience the Olympics.

NBC scheduled 3,600 hours of Olympics programming on main network, subsidiaries Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo.

The company is planning to make 2,200 hours of streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com.”

I suspect this is motivated by desire to compete more effectively with the other major networks and their cable competitors while learning how to coordinate their broadcast media with web based and cellphone based media and gauge customer interest.

July 8, 2008 @ 4:51 am | Comment

Dear Western Medias, and that freedom loving Raj, Where is the outcry for this crackdown?

If you’re talking about the blog, you’ll have to speak to richard – he prefers articles that involve China or the US at least in some respect.

As for the article, this is yet another example of the distractionary tactics employed by Chinese – bring up a situation where people are killed and demand that everyone pore over it regardless of the context.

What we are not told by whatever is that these people can vote openly for whoever they want and are not trapped in their own homeland dominated by foreigners. Their spiritual leader is not exiled in another country, their culture is not subject to “disneyfication” and they are not “re-educated” by the authorities for having different views.

Sure the Indians have human rights issues too. But find me a Dalit that would like to change places with a Tibetan!

And you people still trying so hard to convince us there is no media bias and double standard against China in the west?

If you had more than half-a-dozen functioning brain-cells you’d know that’s not the case. Richard, for example, will freely admit there is some bias – because there is ALWAYS bias in the media against almost EVERYONE regardless of whether they’re foreigners or fellow countrymen/women.

July 8, 2008 @ 5:47 am | Comment

if there are 100 stories about the mistreatment of Tibetans, only one of which can legitimately be claimed to be misleading…

As if you got anything to back this up? It’s exactly this kind of unsupported (or supported by dubious sources) bollocks often from the mainstream media in the West that angers many Chinese.

Western media are certainly much better than their Chinese couterpart. In essence, the whole anti-CNN event is not about biased Western media against China in general, but their consistent support of various separatism in China.

Criticize China on whatever you’d like, just don’t try to make Tibet a second Kosovo because that’s dooomed to failure!

July 8, 2008 @ 6:06 am | Comment

What we are not told by whatever is that these people can vote openly for whoever they want and are not trapped in their own homeland dominated by foreigners. Their spiritual leader is not exiled in another country, their culture is not subject to “disneyfication” and they are not “re-educated” by the authorities for having different views.

By only talking about what they don’t have, it sounds like a real tragedy, it sounds like they really live in HELL! That is excatly the kind of tactics used by Western media to demonize Chinese rule in Tibet. List all bad points you could ever glean from the most disgruntled of the Tibetan population (usually monks or exiled former ruling class deprived of feudal privileges), then leave the readers to reason about the implications. What an argument!

Sure the Indians have human rights issues too. But find me a Dalit that would like to change places with a Tibetan!

Guess it won’t be difficult to find millions from Africa or even South Asia who would like to change places with Tibetans.

July 8, 2008 @ 6:37 am | Comment

You just don’t get it do you Bing? Some races (including many Tibetans) value other aspects of life above getting rich. How do I know this? I spoke to some of them. Thats right, you can actually speak to them, they aren’t merely faceless pawns in your own selfish end game.

Those Tibetan friends that I have would far rather preservation of their culture, and specifically their religion, to increased income. It may even be true of you.

Lets say I offered you 1 million yuan, but in exchange I gradually destroy your language and heritage. Your children will no longer learn Han Zi at school, at least there will be a far greater concentration on say, Russian, than on their native tongue. You will be forbidden from hanging a poster of your idol (I dont know if its Mao Ze Dong or Jay Chou) on your wall, and any mention of his name can land you at risk of prison. Mongolians will arrive in Beijing on mass and take most of the decent jobs until you feel like a minority in your own capital. A railway link to facilitate this process is built to connect the city with Ulan Bator and you are forbidden to protest.

I could go on and on and on…try using your imagination yourself, and walking a little while in their shoes

July 8, 2008 @ 11:56 am | Comment

There is no question that the Western media is biased, when it comes to coverages of Tibet. As a sovereign nation, China has every right to suppress the Tibetan independence movement. The problems with human rights and religious freedom in Tibet are secondary. However the media play up these minor issues and avoid the question of Chinese territory integrity.

The result is the creation of a bunch of self-righteous, chest ponding Dalai followers, whose main achievement is prolonging the death agony of Tibetan nationalism.

July 8, 2008 @ 12:31 pm | Comment

That is excatly the kind of tactics used by Western media to demonize

Oh, right, so the fact that they’re being culturally and politically suppressed doesn’t matter? Right, they’re given preferential entrance to universities that they can’t afford to go to – well that REALLY makes up for having people rip down pictures of someone who you really care for from your walls.

July 8, 2008 @ 3:06 pm | Comment

Some races (including many Tibetans) value other aspects of life above getting rich.

Very refreshing!

It’s high time now to promote spiritual life for others even though most of the developed West disregard their own religion (rightly), mainly Christianity, especially with the prospect of a rich and material population of China, India and other developing countries sucking up all resources that have underpinned the luxury of the West.

Those Tibetan friends that I have would far rather preservation of their culture, and specifically their religion, to increased income. It may even be true of you.

Good for them. As long as they abide by Chinese law and rules just like any other Chinese would, I’m sure they are allowed to practice whatever they want.

Lets say I offered you 1 million yuan…

Very fascinating indeed! I might consider it a deal if it were for a billion, pounds.

I could go on and on and on…try using your imagination yourself, and walking a little while in their shoes

Please stop for a moment to look at and live in the reality.

July 8, 2008 @ 4:24 pm | Comment

Bing, what I find ridiculous is that you had a rant about my comments on Tibetans when I was rubbishing the drivel posted by “whatever” in regards to why an equal fuss wasn’t being made about a recent riot involving Dalits. I wasn’t trying to have a wide-ranging discussion about Tibetans in general, simply pointing out to an idiot some key, basic differences between the situation of Tibetans and Dalits.

July 8, 2008 @ 7:22 pm | Comment

Very fascinating indeed! I might consider it a deal if it were for a billion, pounds.

Is a Tibetan being offered £1 billion pounds for what happens to them, their families and neighbours? They’re not even offered 1 million yuan!

July 8, 2008 @ 7:24 pm | Comment

What does this say about US attitudes towards CHINA?

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/07/08/wtc_redevelopment_going_just_fine_in_china.php

http://gothamist.com/2008/07/08/twin_towers_still_standing_in_beiji.php

http://animalnewyork.com/news/2008/07/heartless-chinese-rub-in-loss.php

July 9, 2008 @ 11:20 am | Comment

What does this say about US attitudes towards CHINA?

It says nothing. It’s just a piece of news reporting a fact with some personal opinion. People get upset by various things and why should that be a problem?

I don’t think any rational Chinese could feel anyhow offended by anything like that. Why do you care?

July 9, 2008 @ 4:36 pm | Comment