President, mofo!

The BBC still refuses to call Taiwan's elected leaders "president" in their headlines:

Huge rally against Taiwan leader

I was there, and I agree that it was huge:


See a bird's-eye view of this location in this article
(Click thumbnail to enlarge)
But the caption beneath the BBC video on that page contains this serious underestimation:

Thousands of opposition supporters have taken to the streets [...]

"Thousands," as in "somewhere between 2,000 and 20,000? The speakers onstage at the event said that there were 300,000 people there, which -- even if it was 50% too high -- would mean the BBC is off by a factor of 100! The BBC should have said "hundreds of thousands."

Here she comes again
Hack BBC reporter Caroline Gluck gets the byline on an article with the same president-less headline in which she repeats the numerical disparagement and writes the following rubbish:

The protesters said he [Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] was moving too quickly to improve ties with Beijing.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, although they have been governed separately since 1949.

[...]

The president's office did not comment on the rally, but officials from the governing Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) said the public should not blame the current administration for the island's economic woes but the previous one, which held office for eight years.

They said the public should be protesting against Taiwan's former President, Chen Shui-bian, and his family, who are being investigated over fresh allegations of money laundering involving millions of dollars.

Who needs facts or evidence when you have Caroline Gluck? Let's dump that rubbish out in the sunshine where it can be examined more easily, shall we?

What dictionary are you using?
The protest wasn't about "improv[ing] ties" with Beijing. The protesters know far better than Gluck that the kind of "ties" that Ma wants to have with Beijing go far beyond economic ones and will only result in Taiwan's absorption by an authoritarian government that has no right to rule Taiwan.


These guys know clearly what Gluck fails to tell readers
(Click to enlarge)
There's also a big piece that Gluck left out about the Ma government brushing off China's multiple uses of the offensive and absolutely incorrect name "China, Taiwan" (中國台灣).

The part about "1949"? Again?! Fuck! Before 1949, Taiwan was ruled by Japan, so that sentence is a purely China-centric lie.

Next, the full name of the "Nationalist Party" -- as Gluck surely knows -- is the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Given the context, it has more relevance than usual, but Gluck dutifully leaves the first nasty word off.

Finally, the "current administration" is being blamed for driving away foreign investment, relying almost exclusively on China to boost Taiwan's economy, and for failing to live up to the campaign promise of "633" (6% economic growth/year [now reduced to an unreachable 4.8% -- even though his own government estimates maybe reaching 4.3%], US$30,000 per capita income [ain't gonna happen], and less than 3% unemployment by 2012), the campaign claim of "We are ready" (我們準備好了！), and the campaign promise of "If Ma gets elected, things will be better right away" (「馬上就會好」). Plus, the "allegations" are being made by known liars, the "invesigat[ion]" is incomplete, and the evidence is absent without leave. Also, the economy was quite healthy during Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) administration, with a 6.06% growth rate occurring in the first quarter of 2008 during the last part of Chen's term.

By the way, the "island" that Gluck is referring to is Taiwan, and while most people here call it a "country," Gluck repeats that worn-out meme (the "mainland-island" dichotomy) which falsely implies that it is part of China.

So, just about everthing that Caroline Gluck said echoes KMT talking points, and that is the kind of rubbish off of which she makes her living.

For the benefit of your own lying eyes
Here are some more photos I shot on location:

Where was Gluck during this event -- under President Mr. Ma's desk?
"Thousands" of people passed by in just the 90 seconds following that shot,
and after that, they kept on comin'!
(Click to enlarge)

If she wasn't under Ma's desk, she would certainly have seen things like this...
(Click to enlarge)

... and even though she could have talked to "thousands" of people like this,
there isn't a single quote in her article from any of the rally's participants.
I don't know if Gluck can read the sign, but it basically says the same thing as the next one below.
(Click to enlarge)

Sunshine Laws Now!
The DPP has never had the legislative majority required to enact such laws.
Ma's party, on the other hand, has had over half a century to do so.
WTF are they waiting for?
(Click to enlarge)

The pan-blue media helped Ma during his presidential campaign to push the lie that the TAIEX would go up to 10,000 or even 20,000 points.
Instead, this is what happened starting the very day Ma took office.
(Click to enlarge)

Stop selling Taiwan out!
(Click to enlarge)

Feel the passion in their expressions.
They are from Taiwan!
(Click to enlarge)
Don't you forget about us
Here are some of my and Michael Turton's previous criticisms of the BBC's anti-Taiwan coverage:

1) BBC gets Taiwan all wrong
2) BBC angers all who care about Taiwan
3) BBC still not getting Taiwan right
4) BBC continues Taiwan deception
5) BBC strikes again
6) BBC Taiwan Coverage: Pathetically Biased
7) BBC cooks up more nonsense about Chen recall bid
8) Who will observe the Taiwan observers?
9) BBC has news about Taiwan totally backwards
10) BBC's Gluck dumps on changes to Taiwan's history books
11) Another distortion piece from the BBC
12) Sorry-ass BBC misreports Taiwan again

And then there were 13.

Even more reading
* Saturday, August 30, 2008, International Herald Tribune: Thousands rally against Taiwan's China policy

Tens of thousands of Taiwanese marched [...]

[...]

[...] Police said about 40,000 people participated in the rally.

Is it "Thousands" or "Tens of thousands"?!

* Saturday, August 30, 2008, Agence France-Presse (AFP): Tens of thousands rally against Taiwan's Ma

TAIPEI (AFP) — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Taipei Saturday [...]

[...]

Peter Wang, the rally organiser, told AFP Ma's stance on China meant "Taiwan's sovereignty is being sacrificed."

At least they're consistent with the low numbers between the headline and the body text. OTOH, Peter Wang was merely one of the organizers.

* Sunday, August 31, 2008, Taipei Times: Rally targets Ma on 100th day in office:

Tens of thousands of protesters began their walk [...]

[...]

The Taiwan Society, which organized the rally, estimated that 300,000 people attended, while Taipei police said they would not provide an estimate.

Wait a minute! IHT said police gave them an estimate! And come on -- somebody has got to be able to do better than that "Tens of thousands" crap!

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M&M's for the mind: Taiwan, 台灣, media, 媒體, memes, 大腦模仿病毒, BBC, 英國廣播公司, Caroline Gluck, 凱若琳葛拉克, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, protest, 抗議

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: BBC, Caroline Gluck, media, memes, Taiwan, 凱若琳葛拉克, 台灣, 大腦模仿病毒, 媒體, 英國廣播公司

Caroline Gluck, what's wrong with you?

On July 16, 2008, Caroline Gluck wrote an article for the BBC titled "Taiwan sorry for white terror era." The dateline on the article also indicates that it was written in "Taipei," but regular readers of this blog might wonder if Gluck was actually reporting from a different planet altogether.

However long ago it was written, Gluck's misreporting on Taiwan should be neither forgiven nor forgotten.

Let's start by looking at just the headline.

First of all, "Taiwan" can't be sorry for the era, since Taiwan and its people were the victims. The assailants weren't even from Taiwan. They were the Chinese Nationalist Party (中國國民黨 or KMT).

The next mistake has to do with the lack of capitalization. "White Terror" should have been treated as a proper noun here, the same way that word combinations such as "Treaty of Shimonoseki," "Green Island," Jade Mountain," "Jiancheng Circle Market," "Boston Communiqué," "Taiwan Relations Act," and "Declaration of Independence" should be capitalized when they refer to unique geographical locations or historical documents.

"Sorry" seems to mean something else on Planet Gluck
Saying "sorry" and being sorry are often two distinct things. Let's see which one applies here.

The words being interpreted by Gluck were spoken by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) (Chinese KMT), who was inaugurated on May 20, 2008, and whose administration quickly turned the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (台灣民主紀念館) back into a place where people could "pay their respects" to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), the former dictator who oversaw the White Terror period. (See also this Chinese-language CNA article about the removal of the 228 Exhibition.) The new administration also quickly put so-called "honor guards" back at the mausoleums of Chiang and his son (head of the "blue shirt" secret police) Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).

The resumption of the so-called "honor guards" happened just over one month ago.

And don't forget Ma's tributes to the dead dictator shortly after he was elected. (See also this related article from the Taipei Times.)


Shortly after his election, Ma lays a wreath at the tomb of Chiang Kai-shek
(Click to enlarge)

Self-explanatory CNA photo via the April 6, 2008 Taipei Times
(Click to enlarge)

Turning dictators into dolls? Ugh!
(Click to enlarge)
Is either Ma or his Chinese KMT "sorry" for the White Terror era? I don't buy it for one minute, and neither did Yao Mu-chi (姚沐棋):

In tears, Yao said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government had wrongfully convicted her parents and ruined the lives of her and her entire family.

Yao said her parents, both journalists, were accused of spying for the Chinese Communist Party. Her mother, who was convicted without a trial, died of torture 85 days after being arrested, Yao said.

Her father, also convicted of spying, served 10 years in jail, Yao said.

Yao said she and her two older sisters were labeled as the "daughters of spies" and blocked from promotions at work and from taking national examinations for civil servants.

So-called "reporting"
In the first sentence that follows the article's subheadline, Gluck waffles:

During the so-called "white terror" period, martial law was imposed by members of Mr Ma's Kuomintang party, after they fled to the island in 1949.

Again, the subject gets the lowercase treatment, but even worse, Gluck refers to it -- in compound "those-aren't-my-words" fashion -- as the "so-called 'white terror' period," writing as though it were the figment of someone's imagination. If the hyphenated modifier weren't enough, she puts scare quotes around the already-degraded term.

Imagine what Gluck's reaction might be to a foreign journalist who (fictionally) referred to the "so-called 'blitz' of London" during "world war ii," and you might be better able to understand this from a Taiwanese perspective. Do the math, and you'll figure out the sum of insult + injury.

Gluck's so-called "journalism" frequently misrepresents the area she is supposed to knowledgeably cover, and this example is no exception. Although there's a bit of what might otherwise be called "balance" on the subject in her article, the aforementioned offenses negate any merits those points might otherwise have had.

FURTHER READING:
* Take a look back at some of the BBC's anti-Taiwan bias as previously covered at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy and Taiwan Matters:

1) BBC gets Taiwan all wrong
2) BBC angers all who care about Taiwan
3) BBC still not getting Taiwan right
4) BBC continues Taiwan deception
5) BBC strikes again
6) BBC Taiwan Coverage: Pathetically Biased
7) BBC cooks up more nonsense about Chen recall bid
8) Who will observe the Taiwan observers?
9) BBC has news about Taiwan totally backwards
10) BBC's Gluck dumps on changes to Taiwan's history books
11) Another distortion piece from the BBC

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Orthographies: Taiwan, 台灣, BBC, 英國廣播公司, Caroline Gluck, 凱若琳葛拉克, White Terror, 白色恐怖, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: BBC, Caroline Gluck, Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT, Kuomintang, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan, White Terror, 中國國民黨, 凱若琳葛拉克, 台灣, 國民黨, 白色恐怖, 英國廣播公司, 馬英九