> I agree of course that Nightline is a very obnoxious program, and
> your specific criticisms of Nightline in this case are valid.
>
> BUT it seems to me this FAIR advisory itself becomes part of
> what in a way is a more serious distortion of an issue than is the
> distortion complained of. FAIR distorts the nature of an ongoing
> debate *within* the left.
>
> The whole thrust of this Update from FAIR is to equate support
> for PNTR (or, more accurately, refraining from opposition to
> PNTR) with support for globalism. But it seems to me (and many
> others I know) that the opposition to PNTR was in fact a betrayal
> of the central thrust of the Seattle and A16 movements, sidetracking
> attention to a battle which (whatever the subjective intentions of
> its advocates and whatever the facts, negative I agree, about
> China) was in effect chauvinist, racist, and anti-communist. This
> obscurring of an important conflict within the left is I believe
> more damaging to progressive thought than anything the scoundrels
> on Nightline might do or not do.
>
> Carrol Cox
>
Thanks for this note.
We had a lot of discussions within FAIR about PNTR. My position -- that PNTR was the wrong fight for all the reasons you mention -- was similar to yours. Others here were receptive but skeptical of that argument.
What came out of that was that our radio show, Counterspin, broadcast two segments on media coverage of PNTR. One was an interview with FAIR associate Dean Baker. He criticized the media for portraying China's entry into the WTO as a wonderful thing that would lead to a prosperous, free-market China. He said the likely outcome would actually be a disastrous free-market China.
The other was an interview with Chalmers Johnson who also criticized the media for saying the WTO would make China neoliberal and rich. But his point was that WTO will not significantly change China; that the country is still largely committed to state-guided development; and that that's a good thing. Ultimately, Johnson said PNTR is a red herring. By implication, he criticized the anti-PNTR campaign.
As for the Nightline alert, it's a simple question of balance. The show --and their coverage generally -- was amazingly unbalanced, as you seem to note. So we went after Nightline. I thought it was an easy call.
Seth