xizhimen
Experienced member
- Messages
- 7,391
- Reactions
- Nation of residence
-
- Nation of origin
-
Foreign journalists harassed by Chinese citizens over Zhengzhou flooding coverage
Incidents are a "sad sign of increasing anger and suspicion towards foreign media," writes one journalist.
RHODA KWAN
12:17, 26 JULY 2021
Correspondents for several international media outlets were harassed by citizens on the streets of Zhengzhou over the weekend as they covered the aftermath of severe flooding in the Chinese city last Thursday.
The incidents came as social media platform Weibo saw a stream of angry posts criticising the BBC’s China Correspondent Robin Brant for a report that questioned government policies after a dozen people died in a train carriage amid the flooding.
“We don’t know why they were left so vulnerable,” Brant said in a report last Friday, adding that Beijing had warned other local governments to examine their own preparedness and metro regulations.
Video footage circulated online during the flooding show passengers inundated up to their chests in crowded train carriages.
Chinese netizens on the country’s Twitter-like Weibo platform have accused Brant of being a “rumour-mongering foreigner” and “seriously distorting the facts” in his reports on the flooding.
“BBC reporter Robin Brant has appeared in disaster-stricken areas of our city many times, and has seriously distorted the facts. If you find this person, please call the police immediately,” one post on Saturday read.
The next day, Beijing Bureau chief for the LA Times Alice Su and Deutsche Welle’s China correspondent Mathias Boelinger were surrounded by an angry crowd who mistakenly believed Boelinger to be Brant.
“They kept pushing me yelling that I was a bad guy and that I should stop smearing China. One guy [tried] to snatch my phone,” Boelinger tweeted following the incident.
“You should have a positive view on China!” one man told Boelinger, a video circulating on Weibo showed.
The pair were interviewing shopkeepers in the city on the challenges they faced and “insufficient” help from the government to drain their premises underground, Su tweeted.
Correspondents for Al Jazeera and the Associated Press also tweeted about being harassed by crowds, who took videos of them and called the authorities.
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu tweeted that the incidents were a “sad sign of increasing anger and suspicion towards foreign media in China.”
hongkongfp.com
Western reporter reporting Zhengzhou flood was mobbed by the city locals accusing him reporting lies.
Two girls tried to stop the crowd from grabbing the reporter and pleaded the crowd to calm down, one girl explained to the reporter that BBC's previous reporting claiming that the passengers were throw onto the platforms in Zhengzhou subway and let die. This report enraged Zhengzhou residents.
In the end a local guys said you never want to report China , all you want to do is attacking China, and he walked away before making his last shout.
"Don't interview me, I hate you"
Incidents are a "sad sign of increasing anger and suspicion towards foreign media," writes one journalist.
RHODA KWAN
12:17, 26 JULY 2021
Correspondents for several international media outlets were harassed by citizens on the streets of Zhengzhou over the weekend as they covered the aftermath of severe flooding in the Chinese city last Thursday.
The incidents came as social media platform Weibo saw a stream of angry posts criticising the BBC’s China Correspondent Robin Brant for a report that questioned government policies after a dozen people died in a train carriage amid the flooding.
“We don’t know why they were left so vulnerable,” Brant said in a report last Friday, adding that Beijing had warned other local governments to examine their own preparedness and metro regulations.
Video footage circulated online during the flooding show passengers inundated up to their chests in crowded train carriages.
Chinese netizens on the country’s Twitter-like Weibo platform have accused Brant of being a “rumour-mongering foreigner” and “seriously distorting the facts” in his reports on the flooding.
“BBC reporter Robin Brant has appeared in disaster-stricken areas of our city many times, and has seriously distorted the facts. If you find this person, please call the police immediately,” one post on Saturday read.
The next day, Beijing Bureau chief for the LA Times Alice Su and Deutsche Welle’s China correspondent Mathias Boelinger were surrounded by an angry crowd who mistakenly believed Boelinger to be Brant.
“They kept pushing me yelling that I was a bad guy and that I should stop smearing China. One guy [tried] to snatch my phone,” Boelinger tweeted following the incident.
“You should have a positive view on China!” one man told Boelinger, a video circulating on Weibo showed.
The pair were interviewing shopkeepers in the city on the challenges they faced and “insufficient” help from the government to drain their premises underground, Su tweeted.
Correspondents for Al Jazeera and the Associated Press also tweeted about being harassed by crowds, who took videos of them and called the authorities.
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu tweeted that the incidents were a “sad sign of increasing anger and suspicion towards foreign media in China.”
Foreign journalists harassed by Chinese citizens over Zhengzhou flooding coverage | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP
Correspondents for several international media outlets were harassed by citizens on the streets of Zhengzhou over the weekend as they covered the aftermath of severe flooding in the Chinese city last Thursday. The incidents came as social media platform Weibo saw a stream of angry posts...
hongkongfp.com
Western reporter reporting Zhengzhou flood was mobbed by the city locals accusing him reporting lies.
Two girls tried to stop the crowd from grabbing the reporter and pleaded the crowd to calm down, one girl explained to the reporter that BBC's previous reporting claiming that the passengers were throw onto the platforms in Zhengzhou subway and let die. This report enraged Zhengzhou residents.
In the end a local guys said you never want to report China , all you want to do is attacking China, and he walked away before making his last shout.
"Don't interview me, I hate you"
Last edited by a moderator:
