The Guardian-Nebraska governors remarks about Chinese reporter spark outrage
October 19, 2023 3 min 480 words
内布拉斯加州州长吉姆·皮伦因对一名来自中国的记者的不当言论引发愤怒，他表示没有阅读对其家族企业的调查文章，因为记者“来自共产主义中国”。这一言论受到了广泛批评，包括记者、新闻界和新闻自由倡导团体。 吉姆·皮伦的回应引发了人们对言论自由和媒体独立的担忧。无论一个记者的国籍如何，媒体的职责是揭示真相，监督当权者，并为公众利益提供信息。将一个记者的国籍作为拒绝阅读调查文章的理由是毫无道理的，这种言论只会伤害媒体的声誉，削弱言论自由的基础。 此外，这位记者的文章揭示了可能对环境和公共健康构成风险的问题，这些问题应该得到充分的关注和调查，而不是遭到政治立场或国籍的干扰。言论自由和新闻报道的独立性是维护民主和社会公平的基石，这种攻击媒体的行为应受到谴责。 最重要的是，我们应该鼓励深入的、有建设性的对话，而不是将记者置于政治攻击的火线。不管来自何处，记者都在履行公共责任，他们应该得到尊重和支持，以便持续为社会做出宝贵的贡献。
The Nebraska governor, Jim Pillen, is under fire for his dismissal of an investigative article into his family business, saying he didn’t read the piece because the reporter was “from Communist China”.
The reporter, 27-year-old Yanqi Xu, spoke out against Pillen’s comments on social media and thanked other journalists for their support in light of the governor’s remarks.
“Being a reporter, I never wanted to make myself the story. But this time, I thought there’s more at stake than myself,” Xu said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I think about the community I represent, and who might find the governor’s comment hurtful.”
Xu, a reporter with Nebraska’s Flatwater Free Press, wrote an investigative article in September about nitrate levels on hog farms owned by Pillen. She found that water tested at 16 farms had nitrate levels “higher” than the amount “the federal government says is safe to drink”. Higher nitrate levels on the farm also posed a possible contamination risk to other freshwater sources, Xu reported.
Consuming increased levels of nitrate has been linked to several health conditions, including cancer and thyroid disease.
Pillen, a Republican who took office in 2023, was later asked about the article’s findings during a September interview with Nebraska radio station KFAB, the New York Times reported.
When asked to comment on the piece, Pillen responded: “Number one, I didn’t read it and I won’t … Number two, all you’ve got to do is look at the author. [The] author’s from Communist China. What more do you need to know?”
The Guardian reached out to Pillen’s office for comment, but did not hear back.
Matt Wynn, executive director of the Flatwater Free Press, condemned the governor’s comments in an article published by the Flatwater on Tuesday.
“Yanqi has been in the United States since 2017. She has lived in four states and Washington DC. This, she said, is the first time anyone has written her off based on her origin. And it was broadcast, over the air, by the governor of Nebraska,” Wynn wrote.
“As an employer, that infuriates me. As a believer in democracy and a free press, it saddens me. As a Nebraskan, it embarrasses me.”
Wynn added that the Flatwater newsroom reached out to Pillen several times for an apology, but the governor never responded.
Wynn also noted that Pillen declined to respond to Xu’s piece before it ran.
Journalists and press advocacy groups have also criticized Pillen’s comments as xenophobic.
The Asian American Journalists Association published a statement in support of Xu to X.
“Journalists play an indispensable role in holding power to account and informing the public,” read the statement.
“Having an independent and diverse press corps is essential to democracy, and Xu deserves to do her job without being judged because of her nationality or where she grew up.”