A recent study conducted by PEW Research has found that Asian immigrants have now overtaken Hispanics as the fastest growing immigrant population coming into America. For them, they still largely believe in the American dream: the land of opportunity. (Though, interestingly, Joseph Stiglitz recently argued the American dream is increasingly becoming a myth.) The truth is skilled immigrants are still highly sought in America, as this report found immigrants account for a large share of patents granted. Fruit and vegetable immigrant pickers are also sought in America, because typical Americans are not interested in such jobs. Those two extremes characterize what the “American dream” is all about today. When James Fallows recently spoke nonsense about this topic (and others), we took his arguments to task. (Warning: clicking on ‘more’ will cause embedded video below to play automatically.)
Anyways, the video below is from CCTV America. For those of you haven’t yet seen the new network in action, the programming is quite good, by American standards. The report also gives some interesting statistics about Asian Americans.
CCTV’s expansion into America drew some attention. China Daily has also made some headway recently, but in this Globe and Mail piece, reporter Mark MacKinnon is apparently freaking out. Deep down, MacKinnon knows that the Western press is about propaganda – one version of truth. When it comes to China, it’s a China-bashing perspective. Now that there is an increasing possibility for an alternative perspective to become prominent, he gets all nervous.
Allen and 龙信明 had some reactions which I also want to relay.
MacKinnon writes:
You only have to look at the trickle of news coming out of Tibet, where Western journalists are banned, to see what happens when it’s only the state-run media and a few brave bloggers getting the news out. There has been an unprecedented spate of more than 30 self-immolations on the Tibetan plateau over the past year, hinting at the desperation and isolation many Tibetans feel, but there have been few in-depth reports other than the usual attacks on the Dalai Lama offered by the Chinese media.
Of course, he won’t be honest enough to say that during the 2008 Lhasa riots, his paper and his Western media cohorts were busy cropping and lying about the situation on the ground. There were Western tourists in Lhasa at that time too with first hand materials showing the brutality of the rioters. These so called journalists completely ignored such materials! They didn’t even need to go to the Chinese media. I am sure the Chinese media would have made footage available to them if they wanted.
The Chinese government would be foolish to let these journalists in to Tibet!
Allen adds:
Are there in-depth reports on Sadam’s view, North Korea’s view, Russian view, Chinese view (etc., etc.) of the world in Western media?
I am frequently amazed by the lack of shame in the Western press, in their lack of awareness for their own hypocrisy. Here, 龙信明 pokes more holes in MacKinnon’s piece:
“articles that subtly or unsubtly inserted the Communist Party’s take on global events into an otherwise anodyne news story.”
“This isn’t about who rakes in the advertising dollars – it’s about the global conversation, and who gets to frame it.”
Right. And up to now, that’s always been the US. It’s ok if I do it, but it’s awfully sinister and evil when you do it.
“The China Daily takes the same view of the Syria crisis as its political masters in Beijing.”
But the Globe and Mail, and the NYT, and the . . ., have never taken the same view of anything as their political masters in Washington.
哈哈。哈哈哈。
Leave a Reply