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

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Jerome Keating hits a home run

Don't expect AP to start telling the truth, though

In an editorial piece in yesterday's Taipei Times, author Jerome F. Keating provides readers with the facts that are always ignored when AP sells its mendacious stories about Taiwan.

Instead of laying all of those facts out here, however, I'm going to fast-forward to the swing that knocks it out of the park:
Taiwan has always been separate: before, during and after China's Civil War.

Isn't it time, then, to give up the canard that Taiwan and China split after the Civil War in 1949?

Taiwan is Taiwan; China is China.
Jerome provides a great deal of detail to back up his argument (go read the whole thing), whereas AP incessantly -- and with little variation -- repeats a carefully-crafted phrase which is a demonstrable lie -- or, as Jerome so eloquently puts it, a "canard."

You would think that the people at AP would know better. I bet they do.

In order to explain the sort of behavior they exhibit, I usually refer to this quote by Upton Sinclair:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
I'm pretty sure the quote is applicable to news wire agencies, too. If AP won't change (and don't hold your breath waiting), it's up to the readers to do so.

René Magritte's 1952 work, ''Ceci continue de ne pas être une pipe'' (This is still not a pipe)
René Magritte's 1952 work, "Ceci continue de ne pas être une pipe"
("This is still not a pipe")
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Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

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