Saturday, May 26, 2018

The Unbearable Rightness of being the Economist... and Politico *sigh*

The Tanzih Train station. Hopelessly and inhumanly huge and poorly designed, in the morning when it is crowded the crappy chairs are flooded with sunlight because the roof is too small. No solar panels were installed to defray the cost of running the escalators all the time, of course. Nothing but wasted space. *sigh*
"Lenin wrote, “When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will vie with each other for the rope contract.” —Major George Racey Jordan."
Ah, the Economist. Nothing slanted here! Describing her recent live interview with the public, the Economist observed:
Ms Tsai badly needs to restate her case to the people. In two years her approval ratings have slumped from almost 70% to as low as 26%, according to a broadcaster, TVBS; the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation says 48% of her compatriots disapprove of her performance, against 39% in favour. She has lost ground especially with the young, whom she has eagerly courted.
Yes, Saint Ing-wen, Our Lady of Perpetually Slumping Approval, is always perpetually slumping to... right around the low 30s/high 20s. Presentations like this are the truth but only in the most technical sense: yes, Tsai's approval was 70% once and is now 26%. Tsai's approval ratings fell to low 30s in Sept of 2016, and have remained there. They haven't slumped, but orbited in this range most of the time for the last 18 months. This is entirely normal, as I noted in a piece at Taiwan News. Readers will have to decide for themselves whether the Economist lied by not providing that context.

In addition to the misrepresentation of Tsai's perpetually slumping approval ratings, the Economist misrepresents in another way: what was Ma's approval rate at this time (it had fallen to below 30% by Sept of the first year of his first term, even worse than Tsai -- but then the Economist loved Ma). By omitting comparisons, the Economist denies the reader the opportunity to contextualize the information. Readers will have to decide for themselves whether the Economist lied by not providing that context.

I'm getting tired of this misleading reporting, but as long as the Economist remains committed to appearing to support the party that murdered 10 million people in China and Taiwan, we'll see more misleading constructions of this nature. Sad, but our media worships power, not truth...

Speaking of worshiping power, how about that Politico? Yes, Politico has made a "content partnership" with SCMP, which is not exactly scrupulously balanced in its reporting with respect to China. The first fruit of this unholy union was out this week:
Mainland Chinese media names and shames foreign airlines that refuse to comply with ‘Orwellian’ Taiwan demands
The content is imported directly from SCMP without any editing for reality...

Another media organ sells out... in WaPo Isaac Stone Fish wrote on the SCMP-Politico deal. The irony is thick... WaPo has a deal with China Daily, a CCP state organ.

Scott Simon looks at Air Canada's surrender to China in a longer piece.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Almost all articles about China's order to international airlines to list Taiwan as part of China have missed the point.

The key point can be highlighted in the reason why GAP apologized to China on May 14, 2018: namely, the map of China on a GAP T-shirt product does not show (1) Taiwan, (2) “Southern Tibet,” a huge swath of territory in the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh (3) The so-called "Nine Dash Line" in the South China Sea claimed by China as its territory.

This time, China acts as drama queen on Taiwan. Next time, it will be the "Nine Dash Line" not being shown in world maps, typically the main features, of each airline's magazine and web site.

And, there will be a time, when China orders all parties to show "Southern Tibet", "Diauyutai" (Senkaku) and, maybe eventually, a part of Siberia or a part of Mount Paektu in any map they produce.

It will be a never-ending game of China. That is the key point! It's not about Taiwan. It's about China's aggression.

Anonymous said...

NEWS TIP, news breaking soon in major media next week!

MAJOR SCIiFI PUBLISHER IN USA KOWTOWS TO RED CHINA IN ORWELLIAN NONSENSE DENIAL OF SPACE TO TAIWANESE FANS OF SCI FI WHO WANT TO REGISTER ON THE TOR SITE!.....
As readers in the USA and ASIA who follow the news know, last month China sent a threatening letter to a large number of international airlines demanding that they change the country code for Taiwan (TW) on their schedules to China (CN), as dictated by Beijing’s “one China” principle.
However, standing up for Taiwan's international space and presence, on May 5 the Trump administration issued a statement condemning China's science fictional ''demand'' as “Orwellian nonsense,” through which China was trying to impose its own political claims on private companies around the world. It's like the British sci-fi novels "1984" and "Animal Farm" have come back to life in 2018.
Believe it or not, a major sci-fi publishing company in New York, the most prestigious science fiction publisher in the world, Tor Books, whose editors know all about the "1984" and "Animal Farm," also kowtows to China's "one China" nonsense by asking Taiwanese fans of sci-fi who want to sign up at the Tor website (tor.com/register) to list their "country" on the Tor website drop-down menu as either "China" or "Taiwan, province of China."
Yes, the world-famous sci-fi website run by Tor Books does not allow Taiwanese sci-fi fans to list their country as "Taiwan."
But again, as readers know, Taiwan is a free and independent democracy, which abides by international law and has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The Chinese claim that Taiwan is part of the PRC is an silly nationalistic sci-fi illusion, with no basis in international law.

By forcing Taiwanese sci-fi fans to register at Tor Books website as being from either "China" or "Taiwan, province of Taiwan," Tor's editors and website managers are showing a terrible and naive bias to Taiwanese sci-fi fans.
Tor's editors are probably not even aware of this oversight on their registration form, thus this news tip, and hopefully a change in the website's current Orwellian nonsense. .
One hopes that Tor Books, once its editors read this letter, will do the right thing and stand up for Taiwan on its online registration form and show science fiction fans around the world that American sci-fi websites do not kowtow to China.

Steven Crook said...

Had my first try of Taichung's new station not long ago. Not at all impressed.