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"Pay close attention to that man behind the curtain!"

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

CNN interviews Mr. Ma Ying-jeou

How 'bout if we just call you "Mr. Pony"?

Over the past weekend, CNN's Anjali Rao interviewed Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on the program TalkAsia.

CNN got it halfway right and called Ma "Taiwanese president" (he's "Taiwan's" president, but he's not "Taiwanese") in the interview and in on-screen descriptions, but their web page messed up his job description supremely:

Ma doesn't mind if Chinese leaders belittlingly call him ''Mr.''
A ministerial mess-up from a "premier" news source
(Click to enlarge)

The text version of the line highlighted in the image above says [emphasis added]:
· Taiwan's premier, Ma Ying-jeou, elected by biggest margin in history
Can't make up their minds
Check out the other inaccurate description below the video on that page [emphasis added]:
CNN's Anjali Rao talks with popular new Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou about [...]
Whoa, horsie! Numbers in the 30s -- Ma's numbers in just the second month of his presidency -- were called "low approval ratings" by CNN when applied to George W. Bush in the sixth year of his term in office.

What say you, readers, about a 30-ish percent popularity rating? Hot or not?

UPDATE: That sentence about Ma being "popular" disappeared from the CNN page between the time I wrote this post and the time I published it. [/UPDATE]

UPDATE 2: As quickly as it vanished, it seems to have reappeared. Perhaps I was looking at the wrong page? Here it is in image form (from this page):
The poopular Mr. Ma Ying-jeou!
Popular?
(Click to enlarge)

[/UPDATE 2]

Watch it!
See the video of the interview (in pieces) here.

We've seen some unusual things in just this brief look. Watch carefully for more fawning by Rao and for the outright lies you'll find within -- even though there may be a glimpse of truth to be seen if you don't blink.

''Taiwanese'' President Ma Ying-jeou    Anjali Rao can't get enough of Mr. Ma-r

Anjali Rao seems to be flirting with Mr. Ma-r    A 高潮 for Mr. Ma-r. . .
Some screenshots from the end of the interview

Maybe it was there for "balance"
I only caught the tail end of the program on Sunday night, but if you've been keeping up, you wouldn't be surprised to know that the program described above was followed immediately by a promo for another CNN special: Sights & Sounds of Beijing. Could it be a subtle attempt to confuse viewers about which country's president they were just watching an interview of? Y'think?

Perhaps I'll have a more detailed post on the interview content later, but I can't promise anything.
(Im)mutable monikers: , , , , , , , ,

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

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Posted at 8:52 PM by: [Permalink]
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