New York Times Obtuseness on China by Jacob G. Hornberger!
(2020-03-19 at 13:02:21 )

New York Times Obtuseness on China by Jacob G. Hornberger!

In an editorial entitled "Chinas Ill-Timed Attack on the Free Press," the New York Times berates the Chinese government for expelling journalists who work for the Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post and for also demanding detailed information from the Voice of America and Time magazine about their operations in China.

Chinas action comes in retaliation for the United States governments decision to limit the number of Chinese citizens in the United States who work for five Chinese state-owned media outlets. The Times calls Chinas decision to retaliate an "unfortunate echo of the Cold War."

In its editorial, the Times emphasizes that United States media are different from Chinese media in that the former are privately owned and independent, while the Chinese media are state owned and controlled by the Chinese government. Quoting United States Secretary of State and former Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo, the Times argues that Chinas action "is not apples to apples."

But while United States of American media outlets are not directly owned and controlled by the United States government, the Chinese government could be forgiven for concluding that many of such outlets oftentimes have a proclivity to take the side of the United States government in international disputes.

No where in the Timess editorial does it criticize the United States government for its decision to cap the number of Chinese citizens working for those media outlets. Why not?

What business does the United States government have in setting that cap? Who cares how many Chinese citizens are in the United States working for state-owned media?
The Reds are coming! (again)

The Times implicitly justifies the United States governments conduct by saying that sometimes those Chinese citizens consist of "spies." Oh, no! Not spies! You mean, as in communist spies! Oh my gosh! How scary is that!

The Reds are coming to get us, again, just like during the Cold War, when there was, we were told, an international communist conspiracy based in Moscow, Russia, (yes, that Russia) to take over America and the rest of the world!

I wonder what secret information those Chinese spies are gathering. Maybe they are getting secret information about the brutal sanctions that the United States government is enforcing against the people of Iran and North Korea. Or maybe they are gathering information about United States government plans to indict more Chinese citizens for violating those brutal sanctions.

Operation Mockingbird

Surely, the Times is familiar with Operation Mockingbird, the United States government program to plant intelligence assets within the mainstream press, a program that United States mainstream journalists willingly and eagerly cooperated with by becoming secret, patriotic United States agents while purporting to be independent journalists.

Oh, sure, after the secret program was exposed, the United States government promised not to do it again, but one might forgive the Chinese government if it failed to put much credence in such promises. After all, the United States government has been known to lie in the interests of "national security." Indeed, was it not just 10 years ago that the United States government was caught paying "independent" journalists for writing commentary for the United States governments own state-owned media outlet, Radio Martí?

United States socialism

In fact, an amusing part of the Times editorial was its reference to the Voice of America. Acknowledging that that particular media outlet is a "United States agency funded by Congress," the Times pointed out that "its charter requires it to disseminate "accurate, balanced and comprehensive news and information."

Well, that should put everyones mind at ease. You know, sort of like the United States governments other state-owned media outlet, Radio Martí, whose daily broadcasts about communism and Cuba are clearly another "unfortunate echo of the Cold War."

I can not help but think though that if the charters of those Chinese state-owned media outlets said the same thing as the charters of Voice of America and Radio Martí, the Times might take a more skeptical view of them.

In fact, I can not help but wonder why the Times failed to condemn the United States governments socialist ownership of media.

By remaining silent on that point, is there not a danger that the Chinese government could conclude that the Times is serving as a self-designated apologist for the United States government and its socialist programs?

Winning credibility

Moreover, the fact that the Times accuses the Chinese government of "attacking" is itself somewhat odd. It seems pretty clear to me that the fight was started by the United States government when it decreed that cap on the number of Chinese citizens who could be in the United States. Under standard usage of language, since when is retaliation for an attack considered an attack itself?

If the Times wants to stay in China, maybe a good way to win some credibility is to publish an editorial calling on the United States government to rescind its ridiculous, paranoid cap on the number of Chinese state-owned media people working in the United States. At the same time, the editorial could condemn the socialist concept of state-owned media by both the United States government and the Chinese government. The editorial could also call on the United States government to end its attacks on China by lifting its sanctions on the Chinese people, end its criminal prosecution of Chinese business executive Meng Wanzhou for supposedly violating United States sanctions on Iran, and end its immoral and destructive trade war against China.

For that matter, maybe the Times could also, at the same time, call on the United States government to end its never-ending attacks on communist Cuba by lifting its brutal, destructive, and paranoid decades-old embargo against the Cuban people, clearly another "unfortunate echo of the Cold War."

Reprinted here with permission from Mr. Jacob G. Hornberger of The Future of Freedom Foundation!! Their Great Website!!