Mao once said that revolution is not an invitation to dinner. Well, journalism is not cheerleading practice.

I do think that the foreign media can be a bit over the top in their negative reporting on China. That said, only a fool or true lackey of the state would argue that the Chinese media is permitted to adequately report on domestic problems and issues. Somebody has to do it, China’s problems are not going to magically disappear just because somebody wants to wish them away.

There have been many horrific problems in American history–racism, poverty, corruption, crime, foreign military misadventures, environmental degradation, you name it. We still grapple with them to this day. But it would be difficult to argue that any of these problems would have been made better had the state prohibited the media from discussing the issues openly.

Finally, it should be noted that for all of the whinging in China about “negative reporting,” the Chinese media never gives a second thought to reporting on negative news from abroad (instability, crime, scandal, death, mayhem, what have you).

Anyway, kudos to you for choosing to engage across the blogging divide. Hopefully, more will follow your lead in both directions. Great post.

First of all, the criticism of the US press is ALWAYS that it only reports negative stories. You gave the example of when coal mines collapse. When seven workers get trapped in the US there is non-stop coverage for a week. When 150 die in China it gets a 15-second mention on the American broadcast.

Secondly. I think people are often sensitive to criticism of their own country, often at the expense of objectiveness. Look at the three examples you gave:
“coal mine collapse again”
“the air of Beijing is so dirty”
“religious are imprisoned”

The first I’ve touched on. The second is arguably the most critical problem facing China today because it has the potential to kill off a generation of people (and as I write this I can literally smell the pollution through my open window), and the last example about imprisonment of religious figures seems like a legitimate argument. Am I missing something? It’s not like there is any shortage of stories on the Chinese economic miracle (which is sometimes known as capitalism).

“你们不明白这不是英语的问题，而是德语的问题。”
“这”or something similar is necessary to make the sentence correct in grammar.

Larry responds:
Posted: January 7th, 2008 at 12:58 am →
1. Westerners don’t understand China
————————————
I read Newyork Times online. Everytime when there are news from China, they’re always like:

“coal mine collapse again”
“the air of Beijing is so dirty”
“religious are imprisoned”

Even when reporting the miracle of economics, they say

“Evil China is threatening the world, let’s justicial countries ban their export.”

You can see the reason here. I’ve never found any article has positive or even impartial view of China. So it is hardly to believe the claim that Westerners know China.

However, I understand this. It creates inaccuracy when you see something so far away. We have the same situation in China. Conversely, most Chinese, specially young people, consider Western Countries as paradises. Which is not too different from China in my point of view.

1. Westerners don’t understand China
2. Westerners are brain washed
3. Westerners are out to get China
4. There are bad things in the west too
5. China is changing fast
6. China is big, anything can happen

Too many of them are satirically deficient too.

Oh, I like short sentences. Your “你们不明白不是英语的问题，而是德语的问题。”
may be shorten to “你们不明白的不是英语,而是德语”。 Note: The “的” gives your “不明白” an object, and also gives “不是” a subject. Your “问题” probably pointing to their problem with language, which also imply they have one. I rather just point out the language difference instead of implying them having a problem.