China uncovers Child Labor Scandal

[warpedbored]

The scandal is the spin the press spins on it. They make it look like an acceptable practice by both the culture and the government. Meanwhile here in the US it is put forward as an isolated insident and a cult. In both instances children are exploited and abused.

[Li & John]

The scandal is the spin the press spins on it. They make it look like an acceptable practice by both the culture and the government. Meanwhile here in the US it is put forward as an isolated insident and a cult. In both instances children are exploited and abused.

 

I agree with you!

[Smitty]

I must be reading a different article, than the one C4Racer linked to, 'cuz I just don't see where, in any way, the article implies that this was an acceptable practice.

 

And if the article was held until after the Olympics, then what? Would the critics say that China is controlling the press? How would that be a win for China?

[IllinoisDave]

I must be reading a different article, than the one C4Racer linked to, 'cuz I just don't see where, in any way, the article implies that this was an acceptable practice.

 

And if the article was held until after the Olympics, then what? Would the critics say that China is controlling the press? How would that be a win for China?

I agree. That AP report and the captions with the pics were made up almost exclusively of cited facts and quotes from Chinese STATE RUN media! Seemed like a pretty straight-forward job of reporting those simple facts to me.

 

Must every negative thing about China reported in the media be some kind of conspiratorial effort to smear China and it's people? How about some perspective? I understand the motives for wanting to defend all things Chinese here, and it's very admirable. But accusing the media of some kind of ongoing,coordinated effort to demonize China just doesn't seem to square with reality.

[warpedbored]

I must be reading a different article, than the one C4Racer linked to, 'cuz I just don't see where, in any way, the article implies that this was an acceptable practice.

 

And if the article was held until after the Olympics, then what? Would the critics say that China is controlling the press? How would that be a win for China?

I agree. That AP report and the captions with the pics were made up almost exclusively of cited facts and quotes from Chinese STATE RUN media! Seemed like a pretty straight-forward job of reporting those simple facts to me.

 

Must every negative thing about China reported in the media be some kind of conspiratorial effort to smear China and it's people? How about some perspective? I understand the motives for wanting to defend all things Chinese here, and it's very admirable. But accusing the media of some kind of ongoing,coordinated effort to demonize China just doesn't seem to square with reality.

Perhaps you are right Dave but the first thing that pops up when you click on Tony's orignal link is

China Child Labor Scandal

It doesn't say "Chinese police uncover child labor violation." like it would if it happened in America. China has gotten a lot of bad press lately, mostly undeserved. It seems almost as if the media is competing with one another to see who can smear China the most. Even Dennis, as noble of a Chinese supporter there ever was percieved this

Exposing flaws in a system is not an attack on the people.

Average Joe American is going to read these news articles and walk away thinking that child labor is commonly practiced in China and the Chinese Govt. seldom does anything about it. Edited May 5, 2008 by warpedbored (see edit history)

[IllinoisDave]

I must be reading a different article, than the one C4Racer linked to, 'cuz I just don't see where, in any way, the article implies that this was an acceptable practice.

 

And if the article was held until after the Olympics, then what? Would the critics say that China is controlling the press? How would that be a win for China?

I agree. That AP report and the captions with the pics were made up almost exclusively of cited facts and quotes from Chinese STATE RUN media! Seemed like a pretty straight-forward job of reporting those simple facts to me.

 

Must every negative thing about China reported in the media be some kind of conspiratorial effort to smear China and it's people? How about some perspective? I understand the motives for wanting to defend all things Chinese here, and it's very admirable. But accusing the media of some kind of ongoing,coordinated effort to demonize China just doesn't seem to square with reality.

Perhaps you are right Dave but the first thing that pops up when you click on Tony's orignal link is

China Child Labor Scandal

It doesn't say "Chinese police uncover child labor violation." like it would if it happened in America. China has gotten a lot of bad press lately, mostly undeserved. It seems almost as if the media is competing with one another to see who can smear China the most. Even Dennis, as noble of a Chinese supporter there ever was percieved this

Exposing flaws in a system is not an attack on the people.

Average Joe American is going to read these news articles and walk away thinking that child labor is commonly practiced in China and the Chinese Govt. seldom does anything about it.

You're definately right Carl in the sense that headlines can be misleading. Unfortunately, I think the people who write the headlines rarely read everything they're headlining about. And by the same token, many readers may do the same. But I do think that happens in regards to domestic stories as well. I can see that headline about the same type of incident here just as easily.

 

Sorry, I've read Dennis' post a few times and I think he may be arguing along the same lines I am. He said: "seems as simply another 'attack' (exposure)" which I took to mean that what some perceive as an "attack" others will see as simply exposing the flaw in the system that isn't an attack on the people. I could be wrong. Maybe Dennis can clarify what he meant.

 

I don't know that I agree that the average American reader would come away thinking that child labor is common AND unpunished in China based solely on these articles. I don't believe the articles are slanted in such a way as to imply that the gov't looks the other way. Just the opposite IMHO. There were two incidents cited, this one and the kiln case, both of which the article said resulted in the companies being caught and punished.

 

Remember, we're talking about the AVERAGE American reader here, not you and I, who pay much more attention to anything pertaining to China. So I think we bring our own particular bias to anything we read that MAY reflect badly on China in any way.

 

If anything, I think we may suffer from having TOO MUCH knowledge on this particular subject. After all, because we're so interested in all things China, we tend to absorb any info we can about it. And,for me at least, some of that info tells me that child labor in China DOES happen and CAN be ignored by local officials at least who pretend not to see as they stuff yuan into their pockets. But I don't think the average US citizen knows enough about China to make the connection, especially having read only these articles.

 

I think what hurts China more than things like this are all the product recalls over the past year or so. When you start talking about poisoned pets and lead in toys you get people's attention pretty quick. The result is that any time they see something like this reported on, they tend to jump to a negative conclusion.

 

Can we really blame the media that there were so many recalls for products that happened to be made in China? Should we blame them for reporting those recalls? Could they do a better job taking the US companies to task who import those products? Sure. But should they then ignore other stories that aren't flattering to China just because the recall stories are already out there, as if there's some kind of quota on negative China stories? I think that's a little bit of wishful thinking on our part, hoping that the motherland of our loved ones is spared from any kind of negative publicity. I wish everything WAS candy and flowers in China. Unfortunately, it's not.

 

You're right Carl. It does seem like there is an awful lot of negative press about China. But I don't think it's unfair to report facts,even if they're painful for us to see. The unfortunate fact is bad things happen in China just as they do anywhere else. I just don't see a coordinated effort by the media to intentionally harm China.