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| Do You Have the Movies Section?" |
Hello and welcome back once again to the quiet offices of the YRC, high above the clamor and clatter of daily activity in the streets here On the Other Side of the World. Our subject this week is credibility, near and dear to the good old YRC, a veritable bastion of journalistic moral androgyny. Bastion, people!
This may be a short issue because our links to the outside world are rapidly closing as three GIANTS of journalistic integrity lock headlines in a battle over their veracity. Yes, the window to the internet is once again closing as we received news that ONE of our VPN providers was temporarily shut down. But we hope to finish this week's column before lights out...again.
Background on the Triad of Credibility:
The first credibility salvo was by The New York Times, which published a story concerning the personal wealth of China's Prime Minister. You can read the entire article (click here for the NY Times Story) but the gist of it was that the historically poor family of Wen Jiaboa had amassed a fortune of $2.7 billion during his tenure as prime minister. This from the Times:
Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an investigation by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory records indicates that the prime minister’s relatives — some of whom, including his wife, have a knack for aggressive deal making — have controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion.
In many cases, the names of the relatives have been hidden behind layers of partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends, work colleagues and business partners. Untangling their financial holdings provides an unusually detailed look at how politically connected people have profited from being at the intersection of government and business as state influence and private wealth converge in China’s fast-growing economy.
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| Hmmm. $2.7 Billion? Are you sure??
There was, of course, considerable reaction to the story here in the PR of C, and access to the New York Times was promptly deleted . No more times for you, sir. And you, sir. The official, PR of C version of The New York Times (well, sort of) promptly went on the attack. This from the UK Telegraph (click here to read the entire story).
China's People's Daily launches attack on The New York TimesThe mouthpiece newspaper of China's Communist Party has launched a blistering attack on The New York Times, accusing it of "faking" and "distorting" news and being a government "propaganda tool".
The 1,500 word People's Daily editorial appeared to be a direct response to The New York Times's explosive exposé last week about the $2.7 billion (£1.67 billion) "hidden fortune" of the family of Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao.
But in a humiliating about-turn, within hours of the People's Daily publishing its lengthy assault on the American newspaper's journalistic integrity it emerged that much of the Chinese newspaper's critique had in fact been plagiarised from other sources.
The Beijing-based People's Daily turned its canons on the 161-year-old newspaper on Monday, three days after The New York Times published the highly embarrassing results of its one-year investigation into Mr Wen's family's finances.
"For a long time, the New York Times has [had] one line printed on its masthead, 'All the news that's fit to print'," noted the People's Daily opinion piece, under the headline: 'New York Times: scandals stack-up, prestige declines'.
"This century-old newspaper claims its news is authentic and reliable, yet there have been quite a few [cases of] plagiarism and fake news in recent years," added the combative piece published on the website of a newspaper which is controlled, funded and censored by the Chinese government.
So NOW Who Do We Believe?
So, the NYT is a propaganda tool that fakes the news. Hmmm. You can now understand that two giants of journalism are fighting it out, toe to toe for the Grand Credibility Champion title here. But before the YRC climbed into the ring to sort those two out, a third contender appeared on the scene.
It was reported recently, in aforementioned People Daily, that Kim Jong-Un, the young leader of North Korea, had been named The Sexist Man in the World." Why, he even beat out South Korean rock legend PSY of Gangnam style fame. China Daily on-line produced a 55-page article and things were going just FINE until it was revealed that the source of their information was....the THIRD in our TRIAD of Credibility, The Onion:
And, in This Corner.....The Onion!
This, from the highly credible BBC: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20518929)
China paper carries Onion Kim Jong-un 'heart-throb' spoof This photo of Kim Jong-un, recently released by North Korean state media, is one of the images that appears in the People's Daily spread
The online version of the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper appears to have fallen for a spoof by the US satirical website, The Onion.
The People's Daily ran a 55-page photo spread of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after he was declared The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.
He is shown riding horses, holding children and greeting his troops.
The spread is accompanied by tongue-in-cheek quotes from The Onion about the "Pyongyang-born heart-throb".
"With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-born heart-throb is every woman's dream come true," the People's Daily quoted The Onion as saying.
"Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle and, of course, that famous smile."
"For more coverage," it wrote," please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."
Paper trail
By around midday on Wednesday, the People's Daily spread appeared to have been removed, with the link to the English version returning an error message.
Yuwen Wu of BBC Chinese says after The Onion published the spoof on 14 November, the story was picked up by the Hong-Kong based ifeng.com. It published a Chinese version on 21 November - but with readers' comments and a clear explanation about the satirical nature of the Onion site.
A Chinese website, Yangzi Wanbao (Yangtse Evening Daily), published a shorter version of the story on the same day, citing ifeng.com as the source, but without the crucial explanation about The Onion.
Guangming Daily then carried the story on 26 November, quoting the Yangtse Evening Daily. The People's Daily in turn published the story on 27 November, citing Guangming Daily as its source.
And the YRC Vote is For...
Hard choice folks, but we are now going to read the Onion for all our news. As long as it is not blocked, of course...
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