Chinese embassy voices grave concern over British newspaper's misuse of Air China picture

LONDON - The Chinese embassy in Britain on Tuesday expressed grave concern over The Guardian's misuse of an Air China picture in one of its reports about a plane incident.

The British newspaper on Monday carried a report about engine parts dropping from a Longtail Aviation's Boeing 747 cargo plane in the Netherlands causing injury. In the report, the paper used a picture of a cargo plane of Air China.

"This misuse of the picture was false reporting and misinformation, which affected the image of a Chinese enterprise," a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said in a statement.

"The Chinese Embassy in the UK expresses grave concern over such misinformation, and requests immediate correction and apology to the Chinese company affected by the misconduct," said the statement.

News media should uphold the professional ethics of journalism and conduct reporting in an objective, fair, balanced and accurate manner, said the statement.

Misinformation like this has not been rare in some Western media's reports, revealing their disregard for the ethics of journalism and their deep-rooted prejudice against China, it said.

"We urge the relevant media to stop seeing China through 'tinted glasses' and view China and its development in an objective and fair manner," said the statement.

The Guardian changed the picture on its website on Tuesday.