April 17, 2008
In China, Western Journalists Face Challenges, Threats
BU prof says local students buy government line
By Chris Berdik
China Daily
Click on the audio player to listen to an interview from Beijing with Anne Donohue, a COM associate professor.
The five cuddly, brightly colored “Fuwa” mascots of this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing send the world wishes for “prosperity, happiness, passion, health, and good luck,” according to the Olympic Games’ English-language Web site.
But as China goes all out with Olympic preparations, and as foreign media flood its cities, some Web-based patriots have a less welcoming message for Western journalists who write about China’s human rights record, particularly the country’s response to recent riots in Tibet. New sites, such as anti-cnn are filled with complaints about the “lies” of Western media, and laced with exhortations such as, “Beat to death these unjust conscienceless criminals.” Some Western reporters have been personally threatened with harm. “The Chinese people don’t welcome you, American running dog,” reads an e-mail to an Associated Press reporter. “Your reports twist the facts and you will suffer the curse of heaven.” A text message to a Western journalist states simply, “One of these days I’m going to kill you.”
“Western news bureaus have been inundated with nasty, scary stuff,” says Anne Donohue, a College of Communication associate professor of journalism, who is currently in Beijing on a Fulbright award teaching her craft to Chinese students at the People’s University of China. Donohue says the Chinese government has been pushing the bias story through its official media, with daily headlines decrying the coverage. In a phone interview from Beijing, Donohue tells BU Today that her undergraduate journalism students, people she would expect to be natural skeptics, are buying the official storyline of a Western media conspiracy “hook, line, and sinker.”
“These students really see the world in a very different way,” she says over a crackling phone line. “They think that nationalism or building up their country at all costs is the most important thing, and that’s more important than any other freedoms they would want.”
To learn more about China and the Olympics, listen to WBUR's On Point, which this week is broadcasting live from Shanghai.
Chris Berdik can be reached at cberdik@bu.edu.








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Comments
I, as a Chinese, am very
"China's human rights policy
Many Chinese are brainwashed, so are many Americans!
Suppose a Chinese reporter......
This is what a BU student can write??
Bad article, bad example
Welcome
Yes, we can enjoy using a public news channel of calling the Chinese "goons and thugs" and later trying to get away by "clarifying" that the statement was not toward Chinese but China’s government(even though I still can’t get a hang of why Chinese meaning the Chinese government). Then we will not complain about the American being called "goons and thugs" because they might be referring to the Bush's administration...
We can also enjoy feeling right about ourselves, as god of the world, because only China has the human right problem, only China mistreats the inmates. Only China will fill me in with such stories like "Practitioners are detained without proper trial and jailed in horrific jails where they undergo torture, rape, and forced-feeding. They send practitioners to brainwashing centers to reeducate them, forcing them to take drugs, which later lead to their deaths. “ ( I don't know who told the tales, but I enjoy it, because it makes me feel right and righteous) Only China bans the illegal organizations. Only China does not use the influence in Africa for preventing genocide.
We do let illegal organizations like the mafia exists with joy, and we enter Iraq just fighting the terrorist, not for controlling the oil. All the jail movies are just all make up stories from Hollywood…
So let’s throw a party to bash China! Because the stereotype of Chinese are just being quiet, peaceful and mind their own business, we can piss them however we want and won't expect them to mouth back. We have teachers like Anne Donohue to educate the brainwashed Chinese student and we will be concerned and get angry if they don't agree with our wonderful westerners' view of the world. Because all we received are un-biased undistorted education, and the pictures of our news reports are not tailored
I cordially welcome you to join us. We will be always right no matter what we say and do, because that is true and known to the world. We can tell the Chinese “go back to China” because, even though we are also immigrants to this continent, but it was so many generations ago. We won’t let Texas be its own nation, because we fought a civil war to free all its slaves, Tibet never had slave problem in its history. China will never be a power in the international community but we already a super power of the world. We rule!
Enough already. This is
check this out: another perspective from Western world
Where is the ethic of CNN journalists?
the rights to criticize
Re: A second view
Demand apologize from BU Today
Western media should respect
Dalai Just want to make use
Who lies
Tibetans are chinese
Please use your IQ to think
there is no such thing as
Inappropriate representation of the story
Think twice before pretending to be objective
What is it really about?
I think the Olympic game in
Honestly I doubt that those
Not appropriate
Understanding is the most important thing
If you want to be Mike
Can American President
There are so many bias on
Let us be objective.
Think of why Chinese are angry with some "journalists"
skeptic,skeptic,skeptic I
Thank the replier for
Jack Cafferty's "NEWS COMMENTARY" in CNN
SHAME ON BU TODAY
Journalist? or Propaganda Agent?
As this news mentions
New sites, such as anti-cnn
A second view
There are internet mobs in
Why did you use “lies”
The comment is much more
The question is: Do CNN and
Objective look
People are jumping on China right now because its such an emotional story, and it's difficult to be objective. Search online and you will have two different stories and two different histories to Tibet. Journalists will inadvertently choose the history closest to their own system of beliefs to be true. Western journalists tell the Western view, Eastern journalists tell the Eastern view, and the thinking, discriminating individual cannot trust either.
China's human rights policy has room for improvement. But its important to remember that change takes time. Fifty years ago, in THIS country, certain races were treated as second class citizens and the law did nothing to prevent that. Today, racial tensions still linger. People forget that these are complicated issues - none of which can be fixed overnight.
I have a class to catch so I'm cutting this short. Printing pictures of Nepalese police beating Tibetans? Lazy or skewed journalism. Charged diction such as "communist" or "propaganda"? Intentionally or unintentionally has the effect of bringing up images of the Cold War, Red China, the whole West vs. Rest scare. NOT acknowledging that the other side of the story might have a grain of truth? Unwise, because America no longer has the last say in the world anymore.
If we as a nation (and I AM throughly American) wish go into this 21st century with any hope of maintaining economic and political power. We have to change our way of looking at other nations. We have to do everything we can to unite the people of the world (i.e. peaceful Olympic games) instead of divide people (i.e. promoting 'us' vs. 'them' through conflicting journalism).
I hope for America's sake and for China's sake that these misunderstanding can be resolved, that the Beijing Olympics can be used as a symbolic landmark for the nation's improvement, and that Chinese-Americans (like me) can live in a world where they won't have to choose between American upbringings and Chinese heritage.
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