I recently heard from a friend in China in response to my blog entry (March 28, 2008) about perceptions of misrepresentation of Chinese events by Western media. I found his remarks fascinating and a good reminder that we have to understand each other (interpersonally, internationally and intergalactically) in order to avoid misunderstandings. Attributing intentionality and meaning is risky business if you can’t look from the other side. Talking about the incident in which CNN commentator Jack Cafferty made some (what I consider to be) irresponsible remarks about China in the wake of the Olympic torch protests, my friend Michael writes:
I met with a Canadian friend on Sunday in Chengdu, who is a professor working with the National Film Board, and we exchanged opinions on the recent Cafferty issue. I said that the Chinese and Western people have very different understandings on the role of media and their relationship with the government. While the Western people tend to think that what the media, in general, say and do should not represent their governments’ points of view because of the freedoms of speech and press, the Chinese are more likely to think that, no matter what, a government ultimately has a say on its own media, because it has the right to license the permit to the media. So, basically, the conclusion from the Chinese side is that if a media personality said something derogatory toward China, then the government must be behind this scheme, either obviously or through acquiescence, especially when the media enjoys a national or international reputation, because it means to the Chinese that this particular media must be very serious and represent the national voice.
It seems that, for the average Chinese, CNN is comparable to the international channel of the American state television, while its counterpart in U.K. is BBC. Psychologically speaking, because of the above reasons, I think the Chinese people would not consider Cafferty’s comments as an individual TV personality’s opinion but as a general attack from the American government. To put it in another way, it’s not seen as a CNN/China thing but as the U.S./China. That’s why it enraged so many Chinese young people, or else, in China, no one cares about what an obscure person says. Actually, barely anyone knew about Cafferty before such a thing took place.
