You know who Jack Cafferty is?
He plays the crusty, irritated, old guy on CNN.
From Reuters, here is why Cafferty is in the news.
Cafferty had said the United States imported Chinese-made “junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food”, adding: “They’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”
China, getting ready to host the Olympics and showcase to the World, is a little sensitive these days. On one hand you have our State Department leaving China off of the top ten worst human rights violators list, which is good for P.R. but, on the other hand you have Spielberg, Clooney, Tibet, Dalai Lama and…oh yeah the dog food and lead paint on toys.
In a bold move that is evidence of Westernization, China demanded an apology for Cafferty’s remarks.
CNN responded to China’s initial criticism by saying there had been no intent to cause offence and that it “would apologize to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way”. It said commentator Jack Cafferty was offering a “strongly held” opinion of the Chinese government, not the people.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Thursday that was not enough.
“Their statement not only did not make a sincere apology, but also took aim at the Chinese government, attempting to sow discord in the relationship between the Chinese people and the Chinese government,” Jiang said.
“Those in the field of journalism should abide by their morals. They don’t have the privilege to rail against or slander other people or other governments,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement.
Welcome to the grown up’s table Liu.
A commentary in the People’s Daily, the voice of the Communist Party, said Cafferty’s remarks were indicative of a general bias in Western media covering Tibet, where days of marches widened into a citywide riot in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on March 14.
Media reports had termed violent attacks as peaceful protests and turned violent criminals into people whose human rights had been violated, coverage that “lays bare the discrimination and hostility behind their objective impartiality”.
“Sixty years after World War Two, in a global media program, to go so far as to nakedly slander a race and openly propagate racism makes people shocked and outraged,” it said.
“Slander a race and openly propagate racism”, good thing you don’t live in France, Cafferty. Sounds pretty close to the “inciting racial hatred” charge they slapped Ms. Bardot with for $24K.
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Tags: CNN, dalai lama, foreign ministry spokeswoman jiang, goons, jack cafferty, journalism, racism
Jay wrote,
Maybe CNN should apologize but not until China apologizes for invading Tibet and its human rights abuses there for almost 50 years.
Link | April 19th, 2008 at 9:51 am