U.S. media cites CMG president to call out western media's prejudice

Screenshot of the report published by U.S. Commerce News. /CCTV Photo

U.S. Commerce News, an online media website dedicated to serving the overseas Chinese communities in the U.S., published a report on Wednesday, citing China Media Group (CMG) President Shen Haixiong's New Year message to caution the western media to adhere to reporting ethics.

"I regret to see that some sections of the western media have seemed to suffer from 'selective blindness' when covering some events related to China. Some have even published hearsay and rumors as news, resulting in distortions and inaccuracies," Shen was quoted as saying in the news report.

According to the report, Shen highlighted that facts are the lifeblood of journalism, and that relying on imagination to produce news does serious harm to the media's credibility with the public.

He called on executives of the news industry to be vigilant in adhering to the ethics of the profession.

Though Shen did not specify which western media outlets he was referring to, the problems Shen identified are clear to all. Last year, CMG called out the prejudices of western media in their reporting on China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and also slammed some western media for politicizing the Essex truck tragedy.

"Pursuing truth and eliminating prejudice is commendable work," Shen was quoted in the report. He vowed that CMG will continue to take an objective and impartial stand to report the truth to the international community and be a voice of justice in the world.

The report also commended the recent developments of CMG, e.g. opening of China's only national key laboratory for ultra-high definition video and audio. It also noted that CMG launched a user-friendly 5G audio-visual new media platform called "Yangshipin" in 2019.

"Judging from the recent moves at CMG, it is clear that this media group is placing itself among the world-leading media institutions, an act that would have further implication on global communications landscape," the report read.

With the exposure of some western media's bias in reporting, the dominance of western media in global communications may be coming to an end, it concluded, adding that it would be a welcoming phenomenon for audiences and viewers from emerging markets.