【Text/Observer Network Zhou Yibo】
Recently, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) made a big fuss about the xu Xin/Liu Shiwen combination's defeat to Japan in the table tennis mixed doubles final of the Tokyo Olympic Games, announcing in the report that Chinese netizens would attack Chinese athletes who did not win gold medals and accuse these athletes of being "unpatriotic".
On August 6, Chinese equestrian Huatian replied to the BBC report on social media that the content was exaggerated and exaggerated, and he did not win a medal in Tokyo this time, but still won the support of fans, "BBC readers, please have reservations about the authenticity of this report!" ”
Some netizens pointed out that no matter what results Chinese athletes get, the vast majority of Chinese netizens are comforting them not to feel too much pressure, "BBC, you are really shameless! ”
The BBC published a report on social media screenshots
On August 3, the BBC published a report titled "Tokyo Olympics: Chinese Nationalists Attack Their Athletes", citing xu Xin/Liu Shiwen's defeat to Japan in the mixed table tennis doubles final, and began to hype up the claim that "Chinese netizens attack athletes who did not win the gold medal".
According to the report, after the game that day, some "keyboard men" attacked Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen on Weibo, believing that they had "failed the country".
This would have been an extreme remark by a small number of people, but the BBC immediately followed the sentence "As nationalist fanaticism continues to sweep the country, the Olympic medal table is no longer just a sports glory", implying that all Chinese netizens are so "extreme".
Immediately afterward, the BBC began to cut the facts and take them out of context in its reports in an attempt to further reinforce this bias.
The report began by quoting a foreign scholar as saying that for ultra-nationalists, the Olympic medal table "is a real-time tracker of the dignity of a country" and that "those who lose in competition with foreigners are failing or even betraying the country."
Subsequently, several malicious remarks were quoted from Weibo that were "carefully selected", and the content was basically groundless criticism of Chinese players.
Based on the above material, the BBC made a comment in the report that "the criticism of Chinese players is overwhelming", and also confirmed that "33 user accounts on Weibo have been blocked as a result".
It is not until the end of the text that the report comes with the sentence "These angry nationalists probably do not represent the majority of Chinese", trying to maintain their "objective neutrality" image.
As for the statements of the vast majority of Chinese netizens to comfort and encourage the athletes who lost the game, and the condemnation of the extreme remarks that attacked the athletes, the full text of the report was not mentioned.
Chinese netizens comfort and encouragement to Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen social media screenshots
On August 6, Chinese equestrian Huatian replied to the BBC report on social media, refuting the report's "grossly out of proportion" content with his own experience.
"As a Chinese athlete who has just returned from Tokyo, I find this report really exaggerated. I didn't win a medal and still got the support of fans on Chinese social media. Every country that participates in the Olympics will have fans who are over-supporting or over-expecting – and that can't be an excuse for their actions, but it can't be an excuse for your unbalanced coverage. ”
"Readers of the BBC, please have reservations about this report!"
According to public information, Huatian was born in London, England, and has received systematic equestrian training in Wiltshire, England since 2000.
In 2006, Huatian renounced his British citizenship and became a Chinese national, and was selected for the Chinese national team in the same year.
In 2007, Huatian became the first Chinese knight to register in the international four-star equestrian triathlon by the INTERNATIONAL HORSE Federation, and became the first 18-year-old Olympic equestrian triathlon in the world.
In the team equestrian triathlon at the Tokyo Olympics on August 2, Huatian was the last of three Chinese team members to appear. He and the war horse "Don" successfully crossed the first 11 obstacles, but "Don" directly crashed into the last obstacle, and only crossed the race after running again, and finally scored 8.80 points.
After the game, Huatian said in an interview, "I am very sad, after preparing for so long, I made a stupid mistake before the last obstacle. ”
In the completed dressage dance steps and cross-country races, Huatian scored a total of 35.90 points, ranking 18th. Despite making a "stupid mistake" in the obstacle course, Huatian eventually finished 21st and advanced to the individual finals of the three competitions. The Chinese team scored 209.60 points in total, ranking ninth in the team in the three events.
China's Huatian at a competition on August 2 Source: Xinhua News Agency
In addition to Huatian, many netizens also recognized the fact-cutting and out-of-context trick of this report, and called the BBC's behavior "shameless".
"The whole article is based on the perspective of a network troll! Every country has these trolls, their views are extreme, often repulsive, and they are usually on the fringes of a social point of view. Why is the BBC mainstreaming these views as if they were typical of Chinese? I guess they're not (typical)! ”
"BBC, stop fake news! Since the Olympics, I have been following Chinese social media every day. Contrary to what the BBC reported, athletes were sad that they hadn't won a medal, and the vast majority of them reassured them not to feel too stressed, whether it was gold or silver, they were proud. BBC, you are shameless! ”
"The BBC's headline misleads public opinion. China has basically won the gold medal in table tennis competitions. Everyone was surprised by this failure. Of course, some people are also angry. But most people cheered for them, not as you say. ”
"What a 'wonderful' article, you quote 3 malicious comments but ignore thousands of positive comments that encourage them. I'd love to know how you covered The English fans. ”
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