There's no such thing as the 'Western Media'
- Source: Global Times
- [23:11 November 23 2009]
- Comments
Readers all over the world love to read happy things that make themselves feel good..But that isn't reality.
Sometimes bad things happen. Why should reporters, Chinese and foreign alike, not report the story as they see it? When foreign reporters are "escorted escorted" and or barred from an area where news happens, how much accuracy does those critical of non-Chinese reports expect?
To China's credit, more media freedom has been granted to journalists, but we have yet to see if they are effective at giving reporters access to areas news is happening in.
This was not the case during the Xinjiang riots and it no doubt affected the accuracy of some news reports.. .
While they may still be living in the past, and be too extreme in their accusations, critics of non-Chinese news are right to be suspicious and question the news they watch and read..They are right to think about the motives of a story and question its legitimacy and whether it's biased or not.
It amazes me, however, how these same people can completely avoid doing the same when it comes to the Chinese news they watch and read every day.Is it so unbelievable to think that Chinese news agencies might be just as flawed as those outside the country?.
Is it not possible that Chinese news agencies have motives and sometimes write stories that are slanted or false just as some Chinese claim foreign news agencies do?
There is no "West".in the news. There are simply journalists from all over the world trying to report on a story.
The companies and/or countries they report for may be biased but a smart reader never reads the news without questioning it anyways.
If you are interested in a topic, you should read about it from many sources, whatever country it comes from and then come to your own conclusions.
Do not discredit an article because it is from a place outside your country. There are some truths even in the most offensive articles. Only by keeping an open mind will you truly get the whole story and in the end, you will be better informed and better off for it.
The author is a Beijing-based freelance writer. mattman_30@hotmail.com
