Were CNN's 'Vile Insults of China' a 'Mistake By U.S. Authorities?'

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Chinese-Americans and others rally outside CNN's Hollywood offices

To demand the firing of commentator Jack Cafferty for calling China's

goods 'junk' and its leaders a 'bunch of goons and thugs,' Apr. 18

The People's Daily, People's Republic of China

Were CNN's 'Vile Insults of China' a 'Mistake By U.S. Authorities?'

Does a dictatorship that has outlawed freedom of the press have the standing to criticize the 'journalistic ethics' of American reporters? That is the question one must grapple with when reading through Beijing's latest blistering attack against CNN host Jack Cafferty 'and his ilk' for referring to the Chinese regime as 'goons and thugs' and calling Chinese goods 'junk.' Paradoxically, the Chinese authorities appear to be criticizing Washington for doing exactly what the Beijing regime does as a matter of policy every day - violate the independence of the Fourth Estate.

According to this editorial from China's tightly-controlled People's Daily:

"People in journalism should abide by professional ethics. CNN's recent reporting is diametrically opposed to the principles of objectivity and balance so often cited as the standard for news coverage. … One has to wonder if his slip-up was the result of a mistake by American authorities or if it just shows that Cafferty and his ilk remain blind and ignorant to both history and reality."

EDITORIAL

April 17, 2008

People's Republic of China - People's Daily - Original Article (English)

CNN Host Jack Cafferty: Does Beijing have standing to question his journalistic ethics?

CNN Via YOUTUBE: The offending remarks uttered by Jack Cafferty on CNN's The Situation Room, Apr. 9, 00:01:10

After its manipulation of riot pictures from Tibet, the Cable News Network (CNN) has again been condemned, this time for slandering China. On April 9 during a TV show [the Situation Room], host Jack Cafferty said that Chinese products are "junk" and the Chinese people are "basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years WATCH ." His malicious verbal attack on China and the Chinese people have sparked tremendous indignation within San Francisco's Chinese community, where the Beijing Olympic torch relay was recently held. American Chinese have protesting intensely by signing online petitions against CNN and demanding that CNN apologize for insulting Chinese people and take punitive actions against its host Jack Cafferty.

CNN is lying again. Since its cropped photo of the Lhasa riot misled public opinion in March, both at home and abroad, CNN has lost all credibility amongst the Chinese audience. "Don't be like CNN" has become the most popular cyber chant. Not coincidentally, Cafferty has again targeted China, going even further to insult the Chinese people. What a despicable and ugly performance!

[Editor's Note: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu rejected CNN's explanation that commentator Jack Cafferty was referring to China's leaders - not the Chinese people - when he described them as "goons and thugs." CNN said it apologized to anyone who thought otherwise WATCH . Jiang said that CNN, "turned its attack on the Chinese government to try to sow division between the Chinese government and the people."]

Why does Cafferty remain so obsessed with his baseless prejudice and discrimination against Chinese? Why does he remain true to his ignorance and resist the hard facts. After all, American Chinese have always been dubbed a model community.

Since the 1950s, the American Chinese population has been growing by leaps and bounds and at a rate that is doubling every ten years. Since 1987, the Chinese mainland has become the largest source of American Chinese [as opposed to Taiwan]. During the 1990s alone, 460,000 mainland Chinese settled in the United States. Of the total American population, 1.83 million had been born in China at the end of 2005 out of a total Chinese population of 3.3 million.

America has enjoyed almost 200-years of mainland Chinese immigration. By helping explore and tame the wild West and develop local economies, early Chinese immigrants did much to change the outlook of the vast but backward American Frontier. Their contributions are well-documented by history.

In recent decades, American Chinese have attained great and widely acknowledged achievements in science and technology. As a superpower, U.S has established a strategic partnership with China, home to "goons and thugs," as Cafferty remarked. One has to wonder if his slip-up was the result of a mistaken decision by American authorities or if it just shows that Cafferty and his ilk remain blind and ignorant to both history and reality.

People in journalism should abide by professional ethics. CNN's recent reporting is diametrically opposed to the principles of objectivity and balance so often cited as the standard for news coverage. And this recent serious case of flaunting the ethics of professional journalism can be traced directly to the insulting comments by Jack Cafferty - especially when he said that Chinese products are "junk."

Pro-Beijing protesters at CNN Headquarters in Hollywood, April 19.

The U.S is China's second largest trading partner and volume of bilateral trade in 2007 reached $302.1 billion, the first time that figure breached the $300 billion mark. China's export volume to the U.S. reached $232.7 billion. Of that total, home appliances, electronics and machinery amounted to $50 billion. Although conflicts on exports exist, Sino-U.S. trade relations remain on a generally sound track. If Chinese products were really "junk," how could Chinese added-value Chinese exports account for such a high percentage of bilateral trade? And Why would the U.S import such costly piles of 'junk" from China? Jack Cafferty should first persuade those who have personally experienced the use of Chinese products and have developed a certain sentimental attachment to Chinese goods.

And old Chinese adage is that, "A just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust one finds little." The truth can never be distorted by vile words and deeds. What a shame that CNN, a popular media outlet, has violated journalistic ethics, despicably denigrated China, turned a deaf ear to the popular will, and harmed the feeling of the public!

What Jack Cafferty said not only unbearably insulted China and the Chinese people, it injured CNN and dealt a deadly blow to the network's public credibility.

[Editor's Note: Reporters Without Borders rates China's media as "Situation Very Serious "].