STOP FLACKING FOR CHINA: It’s Time for the Press to Play by the Rules Too.
In the midst of the greatest test of their mettle in a generation, the New York Times devoted a Sunday front-page article to the absurd claim that criticizing China’s role in this catastrophe amounts to “scapegoating” that is motivated by bigoted “xenophobia.” The piece is an example of the axe-grinding ideology pretending to be news that has become commonplace when our country can least afford it.
It’s a stone-cold fact that the Chinese government repeatedly misled the world about the origin and nature of the virus. Their deceit is entirely consistent with how the Chinese Communist Party has mangled the truth about public-health calamities in the past, including prior outbreaks, and as far back as the state-induced famines of Chairman Mao, which killed millions of China’s own citizens.
But according to the Times, Americans are being manipulated into considering those realities, all part of a cynical strategy to “divert attention” from domestic politics. For proof, the Times showed poll results that nearly 80 percent of Americans fault the Chinese government for dishonesty and negligence in handling the crisis.
How did people get that idea? From “attack ads,” the Times says, that “rely heavily on images of people of Asian descent.” Yet the only such depiction they cite was of the former U.S. ambassador to China, who was shown meeting with their leadership, the same image the Times itself published when it happened. And how should an issue ad address China without using any photos of leaders from China? With mannequins, perhaps? . . . Americans would also be right to wonder why more journalists aren’t pursuing a story about China that appears to tick every box in an investigative reporter’s dream assignment. Here we have an ultra-secretive police state that won’t even let its own citizens use Facebook. They put ethnic minorities in concentration camps. The first doctors who sounded the alarm about the virus were forced to recant at gunpoint. Gee, do you think maybe all that is worth a closer look?
Maybe the NYT is hoping for a bailout from Xi. But honestly, I think a lot of people are being bribed. And telling themselves it’s okay because Orange Man Bad.