“Beijing has called for an investigation of shoddy construction. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will side with the parents and launch a meaningful anti-corruption inquiry or whitewash the problem and shield wrongdoing”.
An article entitled ‘China tightens media limits loosen after earthquake’ by Mark Magnier was published by The Los Angeles Times on June 5th. I had spoken to Ma Guihua regarding this 2 weeks ago and we both concurred that this would likely be the case. This entry isn’t about the actual issue but more to point out the tone in which it is written. Take the above quote, it is not only reporting about the investigation but speculating opinion. Imagine the article was regarding the Abu Graib abuses and was written by a Chinese News Agency, ‘however, it remains to be seen whether Washington will side with the Iraq victims and launch a meaningful inquiry or whitewash the problem and shield wrongdoing.
Everything is treated and spoke of suspiciously. It continues: ‘As part of its so-called main melody strategy, the propaganda ministry is willing to allow more "discordant notes" and critical opinions on the Internet as long as the party line is predominant. It also has become more adept at distraction’. The whole tone and use of words in this paragraph is a blatant and obtuse way of projecting a dismissive yet spiteful attitude towards the CCP.
First question is, do we need to know if there is an independent inquiry into corruption? The answer is yes, of course we do. The second question is, do articles about the Chinese government need to be written this way? The answer is no.
The last quote, ‘Beijing forbids stories about shoddy school construction in the state media. It also employs Western tactics to spin coverage’, says it all really...
The article in question and other links this week:
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-rollback5-2008jun05,0,2540767.story
http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/a-sichuan-family-and-tibets-future/index.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/04/rememberingtiananmen19years?showCommentBox=true
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/governments/china-and-the-earthquake
- J
Saturday, June 7, 2008
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