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Alex Lo

I used to think journalism was driven mainly by sensationalism. Now, I think it’s really about ideology.
After all, how else can you make sense of the saturated coverage of democracy in Hong Kong by the news media in the English-speaking world, as opposed to elections in Mexico, which have been the bloodiest in recent memory?
Just from a purely sensationalist perspective, the current local and legislative election cycles in Mexico have a lot more news – and Hollywood – potential.
On The New York Times website, I did a search with “hong kong crackdown since 2019”, and got 240 results.
However “mexico & election & murder since 2019”, yielded just 108 items.
Bear in mind that Mexico is right next door to the United States and Hispanics make up almost one in five Americans.
I also searched on The Sydney Morning Herald site. It yielded 66 stories for “mexico & election & murder” and 200 for “hong kong & crackdown”.
I then searched on the BBC and The Guardian, and found similar ratios of related news items. But Hong Kong being a former British colony and with the Sino-British Joint Declaration, they do arguably have a legitimate interest in our city.


According to Integralia, a Mexican consulting firm, since the start of the current electoral cycles in September, more than 80 politicians have been murdered, most of them gunned down. Between February and April this year, about 50 elected officials, members of political parties and election candidates were killed.
The kill rate this time round is 44 per cent higher than the previous midterm elections in 2018.
Contrast that with Hong Kong’s politics. The electoral rollbacks have been about increasing the number of seats in pro-government sectors, taking away seats from anti-government constituencies.
And yes, about 10,000 protesters, rioters and arsonists from the 2019 unrest, have been arrested, all of them usually collectively described as “pro-democracy activists” in the Western press.
Except for the more high-profile ones, though, most of those convicted have been sentenced to no more than a few months of jail or community service.
But with mainstream “responsible” and “independent” media, it’s not about bodies or body parts. It’s all about bad China, all the time, in every way. It’s almost comical.
Oh, by the way, did you hear about the hundreds of dead bodies floating down India’s Ganges River? No? I bet you would if they were found in the Yangtze.


State capacity will decide who is the winner in Chinese-American rivalry

The real war on Christmas is not being waged by Hong Kong or mainland China

The Christmas spirit of generosity, peace and goodwill could not be needed more

The emerging axis of lawlessness – the European Union, United States and Israel

My Take

Anti-China reporting of Western media is getting comical

Riot police fire tear gas near Sogo department store in Causeway Bay. Photo: Sam Tsang

Opinion


With mainstream ‘responsible’ and ‘independent’ media, it’s now all about bad China, all the time, in every way



Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}My Take | Anti-China reporting of Western media is getting comical

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} With mainstream ‘responsible’ and ‘independent’ media, it’s now all about bad China, all the time, in every way

My Take | Anti-China reporting of Western media is getting comical

With mainstream ‘responsible’ and ‘independent’ media, it’s now all about bad China, all the time, in every way