Journalism at its Finest From

Journalism at its Finest

From today’s China Daily:

Acording to Chen Tong, vice president and editor-in-chief of, a famous Internet gateway website in China, there are about 15-20 million people surfing his new webpages every day and 80 percent show concern about the situation in Iraq. Chen said most of the Internet surfers expressed their sympathy for the Iraqi people and opposition towards war in the region. The forum has given rise to heated debates about the United States’ role in the crisis, with some people believing the evidence provided by Washington to the United Nations Security Council does not prove Iraq possesses weapons of mass destructions.

First the obvious: How on earth does this guy know that 80 percent of 20 million surfers “show concern” for the iraq and that “most” are show sympathy “for the Iraqi people and opposition towards war.” If they were so sympatheitc with the Iraqi people, how could they be against the war? Despite how badly Bush has botched his argument, it does include liberation of one of the most oppressed people on our planet.

Then we get to China Daily’s signature propaganda tool: The anonymous opinionizer. Note in the last sentence the use of the phrase “some people.” Just imagine a real newspaper, not a puppet, saying in its story as a matter of fact that “Some people don’t like Bush,” and not following it up with who those people are or how the information was obtained. Here it is totally status quo. My favorite is, “Experts say….” This catch-all propaganda gimmick is used ad nauseum on CCTV, allowing the announcer to regurgitate whatever nonsense The State wants to be heard.

(If you’re new to my site, it helps to know that I am a former newspaper reporter and have strong feeling about the abuse of media.)

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