It's an open secret that the western media will always reflect in negative light what is regarded as unfriendly or threatening by the Western world. It appears that China finds itself in this position. But while it's true that China's media sources are routinely censored and notoriously unreliable this does not provide the Western media with an excuse to publish and broadcast misleading images of China that prevents people from understanding this country. This controversy has been around for a long time but began to spread after the monks' protests in Tibet last March. Beijing singled out Western news outlets that produced allegedly biased coverage of these events. Why raise this issue when it is know that the Chinese authorities control its national media and prevent foreign journalists from seeing everything they should be able to see? At this time, the critics weren't just the Chinese government, but also from the Chinese netizens from all over the world.
[...] The Western media never seems to mention this. Most Chinese people consider that China is so wide that they prefer a tied government, which ensures economic prosperity to a democracy, which would lead to chaos. Most of the Chinese prefer a tied government to a democracy. They believe that a tied Government will lead to economic prosperity while the latter will lead to chaos. Now, the question is, how much of this complex story figures in the Western media? Almost nothing. [...]
[...] Demonization, fear of China Western media widely broadcasted an image of a threatening China which contributes to the spread of what we could call a demonization of China. April on CNN: Jack Cafferty's comments are relevant of these two components: [1st : fear of potential harmful products:] continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and [2nd: fear of the Chinese cheap labor:] export . jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we're buying from Wal-Mart. [...]
[...] Explaining the Chinese view: the lessons taught by Chinese philosophy - China's absent culture of debate François Jullien, who is a Professor of Chinese Philosophy and Literature, tackles the issue of the cultural misunderstanding between China and the West. He analyzes the role of Greek thought in the Western civilization which is obviously absent in the Chinese culture. Addressing the question of democracy and freedom of expression, as it is perceived in Europe, he argues that there is no such culture of debate in China. [...]
[...] The people also have a right to petition. In terms of pluralism, did we hear that since 2005, local elections have taken place in all villages in China, taking the first step towards a multi- party state? II. Understanding China's view through its cultural heritage The reason why the Western media is broadcasting a negative image of China is due to a cultural misunderstanding. Our media should emphasize its cultural specificities, in order for the Western world to understand better the situation in China. A. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
