This week on Sinica, we find out what happens when the media attacks, and China is caught in the crossfire. Specifically, recent weeks have brought us two prominent cases of bad press for China as the country gets caught in loaded battles fought by unrelated parties. In the first, an American political advertisement raises the spectre of an US economic collapse. The second is more homegrown, as two giants in the dairy industry are caught spreading lies to promote short-term sales.With Kaiser Kuo out of the country on a speaking tour, the chairing role in Sinica today is filled by Gady Epstein, Beijing Bureau Chief for Forbes magazines. Joining him with his always candid insights into Chinese media is Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei fame. Also joining us in the studio are Chinese public relations expert and Imagethief blogger Will Moss, and Beijing correspondent for the Guardian, Tania Branigan.As always, a quick reminder that if you like the Sinica show, be sure to subscribe via RSS and be notified automatically whenever a new show is released. You can do this either by creating an account on Popup Chinese and customizing your RSS settings, or opening iTunes, selecting the option "Subscribe to Podcast" from the Advanced menu and copying the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box when prompted. For those seeking less commitment, you can also download this mp3 directly from Popup Chinese as a standalone mp3 file. Enjoy!
sebds70
said on October 29, 2010
Hi guys. Any chance of you posting a link to that political ad about China buying out America? Thanks
Sinica
said on October 29, 2010
@sebds70,This is it -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTSQozWP-rM
Freescania
said on November 1, 2010
The thing I like about that political ad is it's by CAGW, Citizens Against Government Waste, who push a hardline libertarian rightist economic agenda that want to see less taxes and less government involvement in all areas of life. Yet, to illustrate the importance of their less-government libertarian agenda they've picked the Peoples' Republic of China as their evil spectre that threatens to overtake America, which is still continuing many aspects of a planned economy where the government's presence and agenda is felt very closely in all areas of society, especially the economy.
murrayjames
said on May 14, 2012
Excellent program. This show is a treasure!
jjwarner8403
said on May 24, 2013
Has Jeremy ever visited the US? Making sweeping generalizations about the entire country between the coasts as being xenophobic was really appalling - this same country he is talking about has been and still is the most open to immigration in the entire history of the world! Has that been politically accomplished and sustained merely by the "cosmopolitan" coasts?Pointing out a different accent of someone in America is not the same as calling them an outsider, no one says "foreigner" or the equivalent and treats them differently like in China. And what difference does it make that people say accent without denoting a special country of origin? Denoting a country of origin would be akin to saying foreigner. Accent is the one and only thing that gives a person away in America for being "an outsider" which doesn't matter for the vast majority of the citizenry. For God sake, consider that US TV is rife with people speaking with foreign accents, all being accepted - British nannies, British talent show judges, British cooking judges (never-mind many foreign born Governors in the political arena). Unlike England or South Africa, pointing out someone's accent does not normally denote class status. Also, concerning BP oil spill Jeremy mustn't read too many conservative news sites like he says because conservatives/republicans were quick to point out Obama's mistake in labeling BP as British Petroleum; and some surmised that that miscue indicated a secret hatred for Britain by Obama. On a somewhat related note, what was the British reaction to Hershey's buying a British chocolate candy maker?Sometimes Jeremy is right on and sometimes he's way off base. Calling most Americans xenophobic is disingenuous and insulting to Americans as well as a true understanding of what xenophobia means.
