NYT should review biased China coverage

By Wen Xian (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2014-12-16 12:21

US President George W. Bush declares the war on Iraq March 20, 2003. (Xinhua)

Although the newspaper admitted later that those reports were unfounded, the harm has been done. Many troubles in today's world, especially in Middle Eastern countries, come from the Iraq War and many people, including large numbers of Iraqi people and American soldiers, died during the war. The war has opened a Pandora's Box and the New York Times has played a major role in that process.

The New York Times reports on China can hardly been seen as "honest" and "comprehensive". Through those reports, the readers can hardly know the historic advancement of the Chinese society and the "reform dividend" that China's peaceful development has brought to the world, including the United States. For those US people who have seldom gone beyond borders, it is hard to have good feelings towards China if they get to know China through New York Times' misleading and biased reports. In today's world, it is crucial for China and the United States to build a constructive relationship, but the biased coverage of China by the New York Times is far from being constructive.

The New York Times has demonized the word "communist". Although China has adopted market reforms and opened up to the world for more than thirty years, the newspaper remains blind to China's progress and attributes all the problems that have arisen during China's develop as results of "dictatorship", "lack of democracy" and "lack of freedom". Such a Cold-War mentality prevails in the New York Times, especially when it comes to issues related to China's Tibet and Xinjiang. Such misleading reports will only intensify the prejudice in the minds of some Americans and weaken the foundation for the healthy development of bilateral relations.

Behind such prejudiced and biased coverage of China is the newspaper's ignorance and arrogance. With a long history, China is the world's largest developing country with a population of 1.3 billion. When reporting on China, reporters need to take into consideration China's history and national conditions, which are very different from those of the West. Moreover, they need to have a knowledge of China's advancement instead of only focusing on China's problems. Otherwise, it will be hard for newspapers like the New York Times to have comprehensive and honest coverage of the real China. It is time the newspaper dropped its blinkers that have done harm to the world, including the United States.

Excerpts from a comment of People's Daily Wechat account