英文阅读：A response to readers' comments
My column in last week's issue of this newspaper triggered an intenseresponse from readers, who posted their comments online. My sincere thanks go to
them all, whether proponents or opponents, whose remarks enlightened me in
different ways and on different levels.
Though I generally do not give my feedback to readers' comments, online or
in print, I would like to go deeper into the topic of my last column with regard
to some of my critics' points of view.
The critics' repudiation of my accusation of Western media's bias against
China focused on three points: first, the media's role is not to applaud a
government but to keep a watchful eye on it; second, Western media do not have
the obligation to manage China's image abroad; third, the Chinese media is
biased itself for it "only reports bad news from abroad".
Right, media need to monitor the government rather than praise it. But this
seems irrelevant to my argument, which concerns the Western media's portrayal of
China rather the Chinese government.
Again, it is right that the Western media are not responsible "to manage
China's image abroad". However, I did not say that. All I said was that the
Western media had been tarnishing China's image before the world by focusing
only on the negative aspects of the country.
Actually this controversy touches on a question that seems to have been
ignored so far. The question is: What do the Western media come to China
for?
My understanding is that a media organization send their journalists to
another country to report whatever they see there so that their compatriots at
home will get the right information about that country. For instance, social,
political, economic and geographical conditions; the culture and customs; the
people's livelihood; the potential for external investment and cooperation, and
so on. In all, facts, both positive and negative.
Faithful reports about a foreign country's real, all-inclusive status quo
is beneficial for exchanges between peoples of that country and the media's home
country. Focusing only on the negative aspects of the country a foreign reporter
stays in while saying nothing about the positive things is not only unfair to
that country but is also cheating his/her compatriots at home.
Now, the third question in the controversy: Do the Chinese media "only
reports bad news from abroad"? The person who wrote that comment challenged me
to "do a quick calculation" about the Chinese media's stories on foreign
countries about how many are positive and how many are negative.
This really embarrasses me for I never am good at "quick calculations". I
can only speak from my general impression of Chinese media's reports on Western
countries and can definitely state that the accusation is absolutely wrong.
Since China began opening itself to the outside world, a huge number of
people have been to Western countries. After returning home, many wrote articles
about their impressions of the countries and most of them were full of praise of
the people's civilized manners, the clean environment and high efficiency in
economic operations.
My wife once worked in Sydney as a correspondent for a Chinese media
organization. She wrote a lot of stories about Australia. Most were "positive"
reports. I have visited a number of Western countries but have seldom written
stories about them. Of the few stories I have written - about four or five -
none was negative. Two of them were actually "praising" Australia and the United
States, for I criticized the uncivilized manners of some Chinese tourists in
comparison with the people of those two countries.
Of course, my wife and I did not write "positive" stories to "manage the
image" of the two Western countries. We wrote them to help our compatriots learn
from the finer points of the Western world.
Finally, as for whether the Western media distort the truth. Need I say any
more? The recent coverage of the riots in Tibet is the most forceful evidence to
support my allegation. Now the whole world has seen that.
E-mail: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn
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