By Lin Li

    BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhuanet) -- "The western media's violent storm of criticism on China are rumors and slanders," said Lionel Vairon, C.E.O of the CEC Consulting and a former French diplomat.

Lionel Vairon (R), C.E.O of the CEC Consulting and a former French diplomat, poses for a photo before the interview with Xinhuanet on May 11, 2009 in Beijing. (Xinhuanet Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Vairon was reaffirming his critical view of the western media elaborated in his book "Threat of China?" during an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet on Monday.

    Pointing out a reason for such a phenomenon is "the commercialization of the media," he said, "the media will think about the commercial interests first."

    "Namely, when they want to sell the newspapers, they want to give the bad news, if it is good news, they don't sell the papers (well)."

    As a result, he noted, "If you only talk good things about China, the newspaper won't have good sale; but if you are critical about it, then papers will be sold well."

    Then, he said, the reporters also have a strong influence on the phenomenon. "Reporters need to write exclusive news articles very quickly," and "consequently the news is lack of or without in-depth analysis, which leads to generally simple and superficial views on some issues."

    He said he also understands the reporters always need to stick to the main stream and have more critical views on what is happening. "If they write that China has made lots of progress especially during last year when the 29th Olympic Games were held, the editors-in-chief won't be very happy with it."

    Vairon said it is true that the media's "capacity of analysis, sometimes, are not proper or enough," and the media know little about China and have very superficial view of China.

Lionel Vairon (R), C.E.O of the CEC Consulting and a former French diplomat, speaks during the interview with Xinhuanet on May 11, 2009 in Beijing. (Xinhuanet Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    But on the other side of world, he added, "the people who are reading the articles have never been to China, those articles mislead their understanding of China, as the readers won’t analyze the news themselves."

    However, he stressed, the current generation of European leaders are still young, who comparatively have less experience than the previous ones on dealing with diplomatic relations and international affairs.

    "We have young generation of leaders who are much more influenced by the media reports, because they have less knowledge of international relations, they still need time to adjust themselves."

    "I think the new leaders are less internationalized, they focus more on domestic issues and policies."

    "I think when we look at what happened last year," Vairon said, referring to the relations between China and France, "the young leaders did not have good knowledge of China, they don't really understand, firstly what is going on in China, and secondly, they don't know how to manage the relations and how to communicate with China."

Diplomat urges western media to abide by journalism ethics in reporting China

German television channel N-TV broadcast footages of Nepalese police wrestling with protestors, claiming them sights in Tibet.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BRUSSELS, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The western media should abide by the basic journalism principles in reporting China and play a positive role in promoting China-Europe relations, Chinese Ambassador Song Zhe to the European Union said here on Wednesday.

    "It is regrettable that some of the China reports from the western media are not comprehensive, objective or fair enough, which lead to some misunderstanding or biased views on China, and are to the detriment of the good relations between China and (the) EU built over many years of joint efforts," Song said at a meeting of Chinese and European Media. Full story

Overseas Chinese rally in support of Beijing Olympics, against Western media's biased coverage

    BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Many Chinese expatriates and students in the United States, Japan and Europe rallied on Saturday to express their support to the upcoming Beijing Olympics, and their anger at some Western media's biased coverage of the recent Lhasa riots.

    Thousands of Chinese Americans and overseas Chinese rallied outside the Cable News Network (CNN)'s studios in downtown Los Angeles to protest anti-Chinese remarks by Jack Cafferty, one of the network's commentators. Full story

Press union chief: Some Western media use Nepali soil to defame China's image

    KATHMANDU, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Editor of Arpan Weekly and President of Nepal's Press Union Munju Ratna Shakya said Wednesday that a section of the Western media is using Nepali soil to defame the image of China and the protests were well-orchestrated dramas.

    "It's ridiculous that some of the Western media are using the photographs of Nepali police trying to prevent protestors from storming into Chinese Embassy premises as the image of police actions in Tibet," he said. Full story

German news television regrets error in covering Tibet riots

    BERLIN, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Germany's RTL television said on Sunday that it "regrets an error" in covering the riots in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

    The TV station admitted on its website that it "used a picture in a wrong context." Full text

German media apologize for errors in covering Tibet riots

    BERLIN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Two German news organizations have apologized after being accused of distorting facts in covering the riots in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

    German news television N-TV on Monday admitted that a picture and a video sequence it used on March 20 in a report about the riots in Tibet had actually been taken in Nepal, a neighboring country of China. Full text

Netizens slam CNN's distortion of riot picture

A CNN website picture shows people running in front of a military truck. The original picture uploaded by Chinese netizens, however, actually also shows mobsters throwing stones at the truck.Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of netizens have answered calls to condemn CNN and a few other western media organizations for distorting facts in covering the riot in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

    "The fairness and objectivity of CNN is cropped," said one of the postings at the online forum of www.china.com., referring to a CNN website picture showing people running in front of a military truck. The original picture uploaded by Chinese netizens, however, actually also shows mobsters throwing stones at the truck. Full text

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