Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia, is quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald for criticizing the Western News Media coverage of the Beijing Olympics as "elitist" and "condescending."
Further, Mr. Keating was "spot-on" in criticizing Western media for reporting China through the prism of Tibet.
Mr. Keating is being too kind.
My take: it is much worse; it is underladen by white supremacy, racism, and cultural arrogance, and viciously piling in "China bashing" and "Chinese demonization."
The Chinese people, especially the emerging young educated Chinese who are increasingly world-savvy and probative, will never forget this about the Western news media.
Click on the report from the Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/08/24/1219516262691.html
With the current Aussie Premier Kevin Rudd being the only Mandarin Chinese-fluent prime minister who can bridge the widening chasm between East and West, it is a missed opportunity for Mr. Rudd who appears to have been suffused by a naive and Europeanized view about Tibet and China.
So be it.... the Aussies have to decide whether they are East or West.
Keating, at least, is saying it like it is.
