[quote=“ShrimpCrackers”]Seriously, picking fights with CNN?
Come on AC, how more biased could you be.
CNN runs an article titled, “Taiwan’s ‘Scum of the Nation’ runs for President”
and all you could say is Annette Lu is picking on CNN?[/quote]
I think VP Lu has pick the wrong party to seek damages from.
If the former KMT member didn’t waffle on the Strait Issue, perhaps she would have been invited to the mainland already and would have never been referred to as ‘scum of the nation.’
There is a reason why ‘Scum of the Nation’ is in single quotes.
One could ask why a proponent of democracy is trying to suppress freedom of the press.
Taiwan’s information and foreign ministry are moving immediately to deport the AP reporter responsible for the article.
I don’t think the PRC has much to learn from Taiwan on the issue of press freedom, after all. Looks like Hong Kong’s a far better example, where no one from the CNN or AP has ever been deported for calling the leadership in Beijing “butchers”.
I’m always surprised that the press on Taiwan continues to give the DPP such good reviews, when they are in fact becoming targetted as enemies of the State.
Imagine her as president deporting everyone that doesn’t agree with her.
Government Information Office Director Cheng Wen-tsan yesterday denied media reports that the government would expel Associated Press reporter Lee Min, despite calls by a group of ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers, and affirmed the DPP administration’s resolve to uphold news freedom.
Speaking to reporters yesterday at the GIO, Cheng, who is also Cabinet spokesman, stated that the government “has always respected news freedom,” adding that the GIO appreciated the reporting by international media based in Taiwan on the country’s political, economic and social development, “which has basically helped the global community gain a better understanding of Taiwan.”
Cheng noted that Lee is not a foreign media reporter based in Taiwan, but came to Taiwan on a special permit issued to residents of Hong Kong and Macau to assist the AP in covering the vice president’s announcement of her candidacy.
The GIO minister also noted that reporters for international media making short visits to Taiwan for news coverage “do not need to apply to the GIO for press cards.”
“Since Lee did not apply for a press card on this visit to Taiwan, there is no question of cancellation,” said Cheng, who added that Vice President Lu herself had stated earlier yesterday that “unless the foreign reporter had committed a crime in Taiwan, there is no justification for his expulsion.”
Lu deserves credit; she spoke out against the deportation from the very beginning. That differentiates her from the DPP legislators + foreign ministry + government information office that spent yesterday investigating whether the deportation was possible.
Ah, the pro-authoritarian crowd weighs in from the universe where inanity amounts to profundity. Tell me, can either of you slavish types point to examples of major media orgs putting “Butcher” to Hu in a headline that simply reports a news event?
Also, can either of you explain why suing an international newspaper for regurgitating pro-China propaganda and personal insults constitutes an assault on press freedom?
What? No? Why don’t you go back to making fainting jokes, AC. It’s right at your level, and won’t involve you in anything complex like international media politics or complete sentences.
In all honesty, I can’t even figure out how the article was poorly written. From what I understand, wire services (like the AP) aren’t even responsible for headlines, only the article.
Here’s the relevant text from the article:
She has repeatedly angered Beijing with her support for Taiwanese independence, and China’s state-run media have called her “insane” for favoring a formal split from the mainland, and the “scum of the nation.” Tensions with China would likely rise if she were elected.
I’m baffled. What does the AP have to apologize for?
Here is Google’s cache of the CNN headline and the first sentence. Not sure about AP Wire.
[quote]Taiwan’s ‘scum of the nation’ runs for president (03.05.2007)
Taiwan’s outspoken vice president, whom China has called “insane” and the “scum of the nation,” said Tuesday she was campaigning to be the island’s first female president.[/quote]
Sensationalist, to be sure, but nothing to sue for. Moving along.
[quote=“zeugmite”]Here is Google’s cache of the CNN headline and the first sentence. Not sure about AP Wire.
[quote]Taiwan’s ‘scum of the nation’ runs for president (03.05.2007)
Taiwan’s outspoken vice president, whom China has called “insane” and the “scum of the nation,” said Tuesday she was campaigning to be the island’s first female president.[/quote]
Sensationalist, to be sure, but nothing to sue for. Moving along.[/quote]
Maybe the hag just doesn’t get what the quotation marks mean.
The offense definitely isn’t in the article, though I wonder why a six-year-old quote makes up the lead paragraph of a story on Lu entering the prez race. Oh yeah, the reporter lives in China. I’m familiar with that syndrome.
But the headilne is unquestionably sensationalistic. CNN wrote the headline. I do wonder if some people there got free tickets to the Olympics.
[quote]CNN and AP push the boundaries of neutral political reporting by referring to Taiwanese Vice President Annette Lu as “insane” and “scum of the nation” within the lead paragraph of a story on her entering Taiwan’s upcoming presidential race.
The foul words came Xinhua following Lu and President Chen Shui-bian’s election in 2000. After complaints, CNN changed the Website headline to the more neutral, Lu seeks to be first Taiwan woman president
Formosa TV News reported that Lu called the incident an “affront to her dignity and to that of the Taiwanese people. This type of news copy abuses freedom of the press.”
At the time of the original comments, Lu said: “They made me famous. I took it as a compliment—targeting me like that has made me internationally well-known. Actually, I’m used to that kind of treatment.” link
A blogger on newsbusters.org commented that the incident reminds us all that “bias knows no borders.”
Indeed, it is certainly a fair question to ask why Chinese officials’ comments from six years ago should form the lead paragraph of this current story.[/quote]
That’s from GNN where I keep my DU blog: beagle17.gnn.tv
[quote=“dearpeter”]The offense definitely isn’t in the article, though I wonder why a six-year-old quote[/url] makes up the lead paragraph of a story on Lu entering the prez race. Oh yeah, the reporter lives in China. I’m familiar with that syndrome.
[/quote]
Whether it’s offensive or not, depends on the acceptance of the general public who may agree to disagree with the hooha created over the presentation of the news. To say sinisterly linking the news to the reporter’s origin obviously is stretching the imagination too far.
Maybe let us paint a scenario of me entering a marathon race as a unknown six years ago, and I came up with a record breaking result of winning the race over all the other great competitors. Six years down the road, I manage to join the same race again. It will not be surprised to see the headlines in major papers presented as, “Giants-killer beebee on the race to repeat the astonishing feat”. Any problem relating the scenario to the CNN headline on Annette Lu?
Maybe it’s more of the negative connotation associated with CNN Lu’s headline but then, this is worldwide CNN and not Taiwan’s medias. Who in the world know Annette Lu much less being just a plain Jane, except for her occassionally emotional outburst against China. She was not against the remark then, why should she dispute it now.
All in all, doesn’t she deserves such grandiose title.
[quote=“dearpeter”]The offense definitely isn’t in the article, though I wonder why a six-year-old quote makes up the lead paragraph of a story on Lu entering the prez race. Oh yeah, the reporter lives in China. I’m familiar with that syndrome.
But the headilne is unquestionably sensationalistic. CNN wrote the headline. I do wonder if some people there got free tickets to the Olympics.[/quote]
Beebee has it right. Lu is really only known for two things – being a supporting dissident for Chen Shui Bian 30 years ago, and being labeled (even in Taiwan) a crazy VP. What else is she known for? Has she done anything during the past N years worthy of mention besides running-of-the-mouth and making crackpot theories about Taiwan aborigines? Her outbursts and relationship with China are both current and relevant to her quest for the presidency.
I suppose I agree. Shit happens. I’m sure Annette was secretly happy about it, just as she confessed to feeling back in 2000. She probably engineered it herself.
But if I were writing that story, I would lead with “first woman to run” not China’s words of so far back.
It’s no big deal. Just another scrap in the Annette Lu scrapbook.
Interesting to compare the dignified silence of Chris Patten with Mad Hatter Lu’s response to being called names by China. You will remember that China called Patten a “triple-breasted whore” and a “smelly poo-faced prostitute of Babylon” or something during the lead up to the Sale of Hong Kong in 1997.
I know we shouldn’t laugh at the afflicted, but isn’t it hilarious the way Taiwanese politicians try and “sue” each other and the newspapers? Watching too much US television, I’m afraid. God Taiwanese politicians are such scum! So glad I don’t have to put up with that shit any more… ho hum.
