Biased view of terrorism

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By Henry Lui, Sha Tin College
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By Henry Lui, Sha Tin College |
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We all agree that media organisations should not take sides in their news reports. But often their ideas - both political and personal - are subtly expressed.

I recently read a CNN news story about the Kunming terrorist attack. The majority of articles from this news provider make me froth at the mouth. However, I found this piece particularly offensive.

It wasn't the horrific writing structure nor the inconsistency in the use of figures (which were given both in words and numbers in the same sentence) that got on my nerves. Rather, it was the quotation marks placed around words such as "assailants" and "terrorists".

Many people were unhappy with US-based media outlets, such as CNN, which refused to label the attack as an act of terrorism. Later, the US embassy in China expressed its sympathy and stated that it was merely a "terrible and senseless act of violence".

These comments sparked a torrent of angry and satirical responses. "Would Americans say the same thing about similar attacks on their own territory?" asked Ma Xiaolin, a web administrator on Sina Weibo.

Several days later, the US finally acknowledged that the Kunming attack was an act of terrorism. It's time that China got equal treatment in the terrorism stakes. People won't stand for any less.

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