China snubs CNN apology over Cafferty remarks
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) -- China on Thursday snubbed an apology from CNN over
remarks by one of its commentators as a wave of verbal assaults on
foreign media raised concerns over coverage at this summer's Beijing
Olympics.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu rejected CNN's explanation that
commentator Jack Cafferty was referring to China's leaders - not the
Chinese people - when he described them as "goons and thugs." CNN said
it apologized to anyone who thought otherwise.
But Jiang said at a regularly scheduled news conference that the CNN
statement lacked sincerity and instead "turned its attack on the
Chinese government to try to sow division between the Chinese
government and the people."
The head of the ministry's information department summoned CNN's
bureau chief in Beijing on Wednesday night to deliver a near identical
protest.
CNN has been singled out by the Chinese government and unknown
activists who have phoned and e-mailed death threats to Western
re****ters. Most of the criticism of the Atlanta-based network concerns
a photograph posted on its Web site weeks ago which cropped out
Tibetans throwing stones at Chinese security forces.
Chinese at home and abroad have heatedly accused Western media of
biased coverage of violent anti-government protests in Tibet and
across western China last month.
Numerous Web postings, YouTube videos and Facebook groups have
criticized the Tibet news coverage, including a Web site called anti-
cnn.com, which was set up especially to point out alleged media bias.
Anger has been further stirred by high-profile protests among
Tibetans, free-speech advocates and others dogging the Beijing Olympic
Torch's passage through London and Paris.
CNN and other foreign satellite broadcasts can be seen only in hotels,
offices and housing developments open to foreigners, meaning very few
Chinese would have heard Cafferty's original comments.
Censors also block many foreign news sites on the Internet, pointing
to an underlying irony of the ongoing protests - that they profess
outrage over foreign media re****ts that their government does not
permit them to view.
The entirely state-controlled media has joined in the vilification
campaign, with the criticisms of CNN featuring prominently in
Thursday's newspapers and TV shows.
A signed editorial in the Communist Party's flag****p People's Daily
attacked what it called Cafferty's "verbal violence."
"When people wake up and face the facts, there will be no more market
for 'information terrorism,'" the editorial said.
The vilification of Western media has renewed concerns about media
controls during the Olympics, when thousands of foreign re****ters are
expected to be in Beijing to cover the August Games. Beijing has
pledged to meet past standards for coverage, but has repeatedly
violated those promises by detaining journalists and banning them from
parts of the country.
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