Tokyo Olympics: Australian website’s ‘weird, offensive’ coverage of teen diver Quan Hongchan blasted by Chinese state media
- Murdoch-owned website’s report on Quan’s sensational 10m platform final display criticised by Global Times for ‘lack of basic human touch’
- News.com.au wrote 14-year-old ‘remained entirely pokerfaced’ and ‘did not crack even the slimmest of smiles’ after one of three perfect-10 dives
The English-language Global Times newspaper took aim at conservative website News.com.au, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, for “weird, offensive words” that “defamed” Quan.
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The Global Times, which comes under the state-run People’s Daily newspaper group, also blasted the Australian website for writing that Quan “remained entirely pokerfaced [and] did not crack even the slimmest of smiles”, that “viewers were shocked at Quan’s reaction”, and that she “looked devastated after being given a perfect score”.
This “was obviously not the case and, in a lack of basic human touch, tried to describe this young gold medallist as an odd, taciturn teenager,” the Global Times wrote.