On the trail of the bogus steamed buns

So are they going to execute the reporter?

Turns out that China says that story you may have seen last week about a snack vendor in Beijing who was putting chopped cardboard in his steamed buns rather than minced pork was all a fake.

Let me tell you, that story got picked up by a lot of newspapers in the United States, where I am temporarily, because of concerns about food quality coming from China.

The newscast, aired by China Central Television, was seen by tens of millions of Chinese viewers. It showed the vendor soaking the chopped cardboard in caustic soda, then adding pork flavor and fatty meat before stuffing the bogus steamed buns.

Today’s English-language China Daily say the reporter is in “criminal custody” because he made the story up to boost ratings.

It only gives the reporter’s surname as Zi, and cites a Beijing municipal government announcement saying that Zi had given the vendor all the cardboard and asked him to soak it. “It’s all cheating,” China Daily reported the announcement as saying.

“Beijing TV apologized in the announcement for failing to check the authenticity of the report, adding it will punish editors involved and make efforts to improve professional ethics of its staff,” the China Daily story says.

It goes on to say inspectors have found no vendors selling fake steamed buns in Beijing.

Now time to vote: Who believes the original story? Who believes this latest version?

Problem is, we’ll never know. Since this is China, authorities didn’t give the reporter’s full name so no one can verify that he actually made it up. Or is this an attempt to quell international concern about made-in-China products?

You may remember that China executed the former chief of its state food and drug administration earlier this month. Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted of taking bribes for allowing substandard medicines on the market. How he was executed is unclear. But it may have been a bullet to the back of the head.

What’ll be the reporter’s fate?

Comments

[insight]

Vote for fake report. The reporter will not die because there is not blood on his hand. FDA guy was responsible for some fatality.

[Gemini]

So instead of examining why so many so called "professional" journalists jumped on a fake story without checking it, the author is casting more doubts? No wonder both the government and common people mistrust foreign media.

[Dad]

Tim Johnson,

Did you notice that it was the state-controlled Beijing TV and China Central Television that aired the original cardboard buns story? But wait, of course you are aware of that, because you mentioned it in this same blog article in which you pronounced your bias that the new story is less credible than the original. So let me get this straight: a story is only credible when it casts a negative light on Chinese society while another story from the same state-controlled sources reversing the negativity suddenly prompts you to start suspecting the hidden hand of the "authorities?"

I have lived in the U.S. much longer than you have in China, and here I need to point out another very simple observation: In all the reporting I have read over the years about China in the so-called American free press, the label "state-controlled" or "communist party mouth organ" or something similar to it is invariably attached to every single mention of any Chinese news source when reporting stories that can even be remotely contrued as casting a positive light about China. Except, in this case, when the Chinese news sources were perceived as airing the country's own dirty laundries.

Upon reflection, it becomes apparent that the so-called free media in the U.S. does much of the same things as the Chinese media when it comes to reporting foreign affairs. Toeing the official government line, patriotic feel-good stories, embellishing the positive, downplaying the embarassing aspects to one's own nation...etc -- you name it, it's all there. The difference is that while the Chinese media makes no pretentions of being objective or fair and balanced, one is confronted with such laughable gimmicks everyday from the U.S. media, all in an attempt to paint itself as somehow more free-minded and not prone to the same narrow-minded nationalistic tendencies that it frequently accuses a "state-controlled" communist media of doing. But to any fair-minded person who has lived in both countries and compared the news media, it is obvious that American journalists are not just organized crime's equivalent of the southeast Asian triads, but the Al Capones who not only play the same game but also claim to be the paragon of a nobler purpose.

Tim, if you are really unsure if pork buns are made of cardboard in Beijing, howcome it sounds like you haven't even tried them in your four years living there? For a journalist claiming to inform those who are even less aware than you are to the world outside the U.S., you are pretty closet-minded, evident in the company you keep --- such as the colleague who similarly purchases only from the Friendship Store across the street --- and the obvious fact that you haven't even tried the Beijing street food before cherry-picking your assumptions about it. The alternative conclusion about you would be hard to believe, for even a true imbecile would trust his personal experience over hearsay, or unless you truly cannot tell cardboard when eating it?

It certainly did not take me that long to try the street food here in New York, and despite the many unsavory and suspicious aspects of how food is prepared by street vendors in New York, I would not even try to paint this facet of life in New York as somehow associated with product quality in the U.S. in general. Ahhh, your question: "Or is this an attempt to quell international concern about made-in-China products?" reminds me of an episode of the Daily Show with Jon Steward, in which he made fun of the use of the question mark by journalists, such as Fox New's Neil Cavuto, to hide their thinly-veiled biases. Cavuto's question: "Is President George Bush the best president ever?" was used to illustrate how journalists opinions are conveyed to the listener without technically doing so. To top it all off, Jon Stewart ended with a question to the likes of Cavuto: "Is your mother a whore?" with the point being that those who play this trick routinely should not be offended by the sentence since it was not a statement but only a question. You, similarly, did the same thing by suggesting that the alleged quality of a particular kind of street food in Beijing has anything to do with the overalll quality of products made in China. And you did it with the same obvious trick widely used by American journalists --- a question mark at the end of your sentence. But if you ever feel that this part of my comments about you is unfair, I refer you to the very well executed points made by Jon Stewart as mentioned above.

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, the stories that were published soon after you wrote your blog entry mentioned the full name of the reporter responsible for the "cardboard buns" story. Well, that just shot down your assertion that "Since this is China, authorities didn't give the reporters full name..." Wow, enlighten us on what else you "know" about China today? Or was the cause-and-effect statement your self-complacent bias talking again? But can you honestly say that knowing the full name of the reporter makes any difference in your remarks. I mean, even if you verified the story from the reporter's own words, you could claim that he was afraid to tell you what you really wanted to hear. It's very obvious that facts do not really matter to a person of your ilk, because everything you see and hear will be filterd out the same way by the lens of your hard-wired bias.

And there are many more like you in the so-called "free press", demagogues who automatically believe in whatever the authorities of one's own country claim even if they involve the wildest spying allegations, but would just as quickly cast suspicion and speculations on as simple a matter as the authenticity of pork in buns of another country, all the while being too lazy to even walk down to the nearest buns vendor and use your hard-earned language skills to acquire some to verify for yourselves. It is really funny that you seem to be worried whether or not the reporter in this story will be "executed". It just shows how out of touch you are. No, silly rabbit, the reporter will not be executed and this whole affair is understandable. But the kind of "journalists" that this world can really do better without are those who use deceit and trickery to imbue the masses with their own fears, cynicism, and prejudices towards other nations, striving to divide nations into "us" and "them", hiding behind the facade of their benign titles while smearing all that which are not in line with their own national interests. Tim, in case you still do not have a clue, I am talking about you and your "patriotic" colleagues.

By the way, has anyone noticed how all of this furor over Chinese products' quality suddenly came to the American media's widespread attention shortly after the bilateral trade talks between the U.S. and China in May produced no favorable results for the U.S.? Looks like your masters gave you a decree, Tim.

[wk]

well
they say they are FREE media, not UNBIASED media.
what's wrong with Tim Johnson's reporting?

[Marvin L Foushee]

The television reporter's name is Zi Beijia. It would be nice if the CPA put a picture of the television reporter face in the news. I suspose that they don't do a perp walk in China. Stuff like that is offensive to the Queen of England. What would happen is the reporter Tommy Goldsmith in the United States put out a false report showing a Muslim putting caustic soda cardboard into a Bubba Gump hero. George W Bush and Hillary Clinton would probably give him a Medal of World Trade Center Freedom.

I would go for the bullet in the head, myself. The reform effort at Central Prison would be a waste of time.

[Marvin L Foushee]

Let me tell you, that story got picked up by a lot of newspapers in the United States, where I am temporarily, because of concerns about food quality coming from China.

If the White House Gestapo has problems with the food quality in China, I am sure that the four star restaurants in China would accomodate a foreigner and cook them a wholesome meal from selected meats from the Angus farm heartland of American and seafood caught off the American shores by American fisherman. Taking into account the artificial over-valuation of the Chinese currency by the Christian Scientists at the Department of the Treasury, your safe meal will cost you 250 yuan.

Let the DOD pick up the tab, the War in Iraq can afford it.

[Marvin L Foushee]

UPDATE:

13:08, July 24, 2007

Authenticity reiterated after cardboard bun saga
China's propaganda departments on Monday reiterated that all media staff must "strictly follow news ethics" and persist with the "authenticity of journalism" days after the infamous cardboard bun expose was labeled a hoax by the government.

"The fabricated report about the cardboard buns, produced by the Beijing TV's Life Channel and carried by many other media, has had an extremely bad influence on society," said a statement jointly released by three departments.

It condemned the act of fabricating news following a government announcement that the report on buns stuffed with cardboard aired on Beijing TV was fake.

The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and General Administration of Press and Publications reminded state media and provincial-level publicity departments in charge of local media to "brush up on journalistic ethnics" and "maintain the image and social credibility of the Chinese media".

"Authenticity is the lifeblood of journalism while fabricated reporting is its arch-enemy," it said.

Some media workers, defying news ethnics and state regulations, fabricated news to seek profits or influence, resulting in an "extremely serious" outcome, said the statement.

All media organizations must ensure the authenticity of news sources and facts and regulate the flow of news editing such as the use of public contributions and Internet resources, it said, adding editors are not allowed to run stories that have not been verified.

The statement also required reporters to "take press cards while covering new events".

The departments vowed to "impose heavy penalties" to reporters and media organizations that deliberately fabricate news stories or stir the influence of faked news, it said.

Six Beijing TV workers were either criticized, reprimanded or sacked for their roles in the report and Beijing TV issued an apology.

The head of Beijing Television Station was publicly reprimanded and the editor-in-chief was given a warning. One deputy editor-in-chief was given a demerit, said the statement. All three were asked to compose self-criticisms.

The deputy director in charge of the Life Channel of the TV service -- the director's post is vacant -- and the producer and a deputy director in charge of the Transparency programme were sacked.

Police have arrested the reporter, Zi Beijia, a temporary employee.

Beijing TV has also terminated the contracts of editorial staff on the Transparency program.

Source: Xinhua

[Humbert Humbert]

Hey Tim, have you read Chomsky's
"Manufacturing Consent"?