disagree. fox leans sooo much to the right, that any other news agency in comparison looks like a left-loving hippy tree-hugging liberal. cnn, abc, pbs, cbs, and nbc all tell it like it is. fox doesn't. npr? left? yeah, probably. what's the point? there isn't any. all media report differently, whether it be in the u.s. or china. it's up to the viewers/listeners to discern what's most appropriate/valid.
I thought there was no freedom of speech in China. How come these sites can write whatever they want - for attention and money?
well, it's true that government may not have its hands on every article, but government sets up a tone or a small frame work for reporter to play with. Anything outside this small sand box will displease the government. that's why you don't see anyone writes about Yao should skip some NT tours in order to better prepare for NBA season.
You're totally wrong. This is nothing about freedom of speech or whatever, it's about professional. Don't hook anything with your imagination about China. Frankly speaking, I don't CCP, even hate them. But I still think you're using too much your imagination. And Stop here, I don't want to discuss this with you at this forum. If you would like to discuss professional, you are welcome.
because Chinese media outlets can't do much on section A ( news, current affairs etc), so they tends to go wild on sports section and entertainment section, in order to stand out against their peers. sohu/sina is very much like those paper near check counter at local supermarket, very entertaining, and that't about it. don't take them too seriously. it' s not like they never invent any quote before.
Good God! And I thought we were cursed in having one Blinebury! Lancet, is Yao more open with the Chinese media, or do they quote him saying things he didn't say? Nyquil, posting stuff from espn boards, hoopshype and hoopsworld is frowned upon here. And, for much the same reason that the thread starter was criticizing the Chinese papers for -- they are unreliable and spread misinformation.
Panda: Making up non-existing issues with his/her own imagination, twisting quotes to weave into a pre-meditated theme which is not there, are not far from fiction. True, American sports media are often bias, and make mistakes, many times because of their ignorance. However, Chinese tabloistic journalism is far worst. I don't really put them in the journalism category. Journalism should only be saved for serious media like People's Daily. I see a delibrate tendency to exaggeration, making up sensational healines to attract attention etc. I can almost see how these stories are written. The autor browsed the clutchfan bbs, toke unproven blurps here as teh real issue, formed their own theme in their story, went out to get some quotes and then weave them into their sensational imagination---however ridiculous it really sounds. But ordinary Chinese poeple can't really tell wheat form chaff. They don't have the benefit like you have in higher education and access to first hand information in foreign language. How come do you think some of the new Chinese poster sound so stupid? They've been told the wrong story.
Oh and panda, it's real easy to test if they were fabricating stories: Fact or fiction: Yao Ming has and issue about Cato, he complained about cometition from Cato? Fact or Fiction: Yao Ming says there is a lockerroom incident about who's #1 in the Rockets. All fiction. But you will take these as facts if you read these two articles and know nothing else.
Well, since sina.com apparently gets more than a few ideas from this board, I kind of feel obligated to keep them stocked with fresh material. Like... um... my sources within the Rockets organization tell me that Moochie Norris is actually a pre-op transsexual! Makes sense, really. He's always had a penchant for losing balls. There's a lot of locker room friction with Yao Ming because Moochie sees himself as the TRUE team leader. And... uh... Eddie Griffin's problems stem from the fact that the infant child his baby's mama done been hiding from him is actually a hideous BAT-BOY! Eddie's contract extension was not picked up because Yao Ming complained to President Bush that Griffin was stealing all of his blocks. And... uh... three-pointers, too. There you go, sohu. Both tips free of charge!
When I want to be entertained yes. Like Denzel said in training day "The newspaper is B.S., I read it for entertainment." In today's media industry, competition is driving sensationalism to a new high. While the U.S. media sources tries to be objective and are held more accountable to than the Chinese, don't act like you actually gonna believe more than maybe 60% (and if you do, you shouldn't imo). So true, Chinese journalism takes it to a whole different level, but as I pointed out, it's not any more worse than some of Fran's articles. There's just more of it because of the audience prefrence and it sells more. US media does the same thing. Think of the line if it bleeds, it leads. There are tons of true news stories out there every day that should be shown more, but you know if a murder goes down, that will be the main focus of news. It's the same thing, media caters to the audience's tastes.
I think I should point out that "If it bleeds..." refers to television news, a completely different (and more worthless) animal than print journalism. As a journalist, I must say that media tends to cater towards the wishes of the publishers and advertisers, as that is where the majority of our money comes from. Subscriptions/sales are a much smaller precentage. Many times we have to grit our teeth and run a story that we feel is stupid or not very newsworthy or lighten up a negative story involving a business that gives money to the paper, but that's the game. We have to make a living and that's out meal-ticket. Editorials like Blinebury's are merely opinion pieces, and their purpose is to put forth an opinion and get people thinking and talking. Just one person's spin on things, basically. Foreign media outlets in Europe and Asia tend to blur the lines between objective journalism and editorializing. That's simply their style, whether it's preferable or not. London has around a dozen daily newspapers, each with its own take on events. You essentially read several of them and try to get the story from all sides. This system has its own strengths and weaknesses apart from the American style. These Chinese websites are a different animal, too. They seem to be more tabloid in nature than objective. So, please give us in the media some credit. Nobody's trying to pull a fast one on you. It's a tough job to gather every single detail of an event or issue in six hours and then condense it into 600 words. Occassionaly our perspective as priveleged observers can color events slightly when we relate them, but it is a matter of professional pride here in the States that we present cold, dry facts for the reader to interpret in whatever context he wishes and earn an honest living doing it.
I might add that the cornerstone of the American press is quotes from "experts." For example, people don't necessarily care about what I think about Eddie Griffin's troubles, but they do care what Steve Francis thinks. Is Steve necessarily in any better position to judge what's going on with Eddie than I am? Not necessarily, but again, people care what he thinks. That's why we hear about it. Just another aspect of the system. Sorry for the rants, but I dislike the way my profession is treated sometimes. Remain skeptical always, but don't simply assume that all journalists have some sort of "agenda."
Sorry if I sounded to cynical. And I definitely appreciate that post. To be perfectly honest, ever since internet became a normal good, I've stopped reading news papers. Most of the stuff I read on there are fairly fact based straightforward articles, though I've found instances where the facts wrong or misquoted or twisted. While I still think Reuters and AP are fairly good news sources, I tend to look into more on what they left out or not on. I still read print media, just informs of News magazines, which typically has a decent amount of opionions put into them. If you read most of the Chinese media, not just the websites, they are definitely heavily opionionated. Some of it might be biased and very likely miscontorted, it's definitely entertaining, and I think that's why it's done in this way.
read this sohu version http://sports.sohu.com/40/34/news215163440.shtml and compare the original http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67472, then you will know that it's not even close. I don't really know how those guys come up with such crap translation.
I agree. While I still think Reuters and AP are fairly good news sources, I tend to look into more on what they left out or not on. Reuters and AP are good. AP, for example, isn't particularly beholden to any advertisers. Understand, however, that AP often lifts stories from their affiliate papers, rewrites them slightly, and then reruns them without credit to the original author. This has happened to me before, and it was sort of flattering, but I'd have liked my name to be on it. However, that is simply part of the deal that allows smaller papers like mine to run AP stories: We give them a couple when they want them. I like the internet media, too, and online newspapers and magazines can be especially handy in that they're very speedy and places like Drudge (who makes no apologies for being sensational) can collect links from around the world in one place. Just bear in mind that anyone can have a website and anyone can construct it in a way that makes them seem credible. At least with print you can be sure that at the very least you're getting the info from people who are trained reporters who ascribe to a professional code and ethics. Except for 'tards like Jayson Blair, obviously. But he was the editor's fault for not paying attention.
Sorry if that causes misunderstanding. I was just sarcastic about the issue. Honestly speaking, both sina.com and sohu.com emerged at the same time as chna.com, originally from Hong Kong. The journalism in the region has been different from American. Generally speaking, they all have a tendency of exaggeration to a much higher level as long as that attracts attention from the readers. This is not confined to sport; but to all public figures, in particular toward movie actress. At the same time, a lot of readers in the region enjoy reading those "news" because they often uncover something that are not reported by official and traditional media such as people.com. The only problem is when you are reading that without rational filtering. We have to understand that in the Western world, the reasonable-source public media reporting is a defence against privacy law. But in the region, privacy law is only in a raw form. The concern of infringing that can easily be outweighed by the increasing capitalism. So, are those comments actually reflecting Yao's thinking. Not necessary. But they did reveal some uncovered Yao story before. For example, what they reported in the summer about Yao's major heart problem was not necessarily true. It turned out Yao did have a minor injury that was not reported anywhere. So, here is their value and exaggeration.
