The Daily Show does an excellent summary of the recent controversies, including many items we’ve blogged.
The Daily Show actually has a “correspondent” in Beijing during the Olympic Games; Rob Riggle, with a running series titled, “Chasing the Dragon.” On Tuesday, Riggle did a hilarious report on “Mysterious Beijing.”
Now it is this constant coverage on China during the Beijing Olympics that I think actually will have a positive effect on Americans getting to know more on China, even if it is only skims the surface. Hell, what percentage of America can even locate China on a map, let alone America?
I’m all for more coverage of China, the Chinese people and Chinese Americans on U.S. television – this will only help Americans to understand China and Chinese Americans. Tonight, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams did a nice profile piece on Chinese-American immigrant and table tennis Olympian Wang Chen. Even small news pieces like this help humanize and bring a face to Asian Americans. And with the 2008 Beijing Olympics setting television rating records for a non-U.S. based Olympics, I think this coverage on China has been great for China, the Chinese, Chinese Americans, Asian Americans and the American public watching the coverage.