The Heat: Fox News’ Chinatown video faces backlash of Chinese-Americans PT2

joining us now to discuss this video and asian-american stereotypes Clarence Lam is a maryland state lawmaker and physician at johns hopkins university from new york paul chung is president of the Asian American Journalists Association and director of interactive and digital news production at The Associated Press Christine Chen is founding and current executive director of Asian and Pacific Islander American vote and from Los Angeles Karen Wong is vice president of programs and communications for Asian Americans advancing justice Ally thanks to all of you for joining us clarence here we are 2016 Fox News the biggest cable news network in the United States a very influential network and they broadcast something like this what did you make of it personally I was appalled and disgusted by the segment it's really a disappointment to us as an asian-american community still see these stereotypes fetch waited in the mainstream media and so you know with all the steps that we've been trying to make forward and move forward with as an asian-american community to be involved to take part in the election process to participate in civic discourse to see this really takes us to step back and it's disappointing to myself disappointed to so many in the community to see these types of stereotypes continue to be perpetuated but I think it speaks to a broader problem that we see not only with the you know issues within diversity in the media also in the broader public discourse that we're seeing on the federal state and local levels christine one of our digital producers here at CCTV she went out to chinatown here in washington DC to get a flavor what people were saying and this is what she found let's take a look what was funny about that okay so someone doesn't speak English like that doesn't mean their issues don't matter we are we're a country that's built on immigrants right like how we forgot this narrative so yeah I didn't I don't think it was funny I don't think I don't I don't know what the point was yeah there's other ways to show the the value that Asian Americans can bring to America other than creating these little weird narratives of a very important part of American you know culture history so he was just kind of pulling you know like the elderly to kind of make fun of what they were were or we're not gonna see it wasn't very informational so there's a folk out there on the street with their views but what was your experience as a chinese-american when you heard this broadcast by Fox News and looking more broadly I mean what is your experience at this type of racist stereotyping well you know we were outright shocked that this character happened in 2016 especially for the fact that you know asian-american Pacific Islanders are the fastest-growing population and this election cycles it's really going to be the point where we have the largest mobilization of asian-american voters and so in this time in our history we believe that our opinions and pulling information about asian-american Pacific Islands are a value especially since we can be a swing vote in places like in Virginia and Florida Nevada and Ohio and Pennsylvania and so I was pleasantly it was really great to see that the Asian American Pacific Islander community mobilized immediately and that we have grown to where we have the infrastructure we now have institutions like the Asian American journalist Association to deal directly with Fox News we also have Asian American elected officials and it was great to see that the Newark community immediately came together to actually protest and to actually hold them accountable and I know that ongoing discussions are going to be held well of course this video this report caused a lot of anger among many groups the asian-american Journalists Association said it was outraged and shocked and demanded an apology Paul you are president of the Association how did you feel when you saw this well when I see sermons like that it really questioned my american-ness right I've been working at newsrooms like The Associated Press The Wall Street Journal and Miami harrow time and time again when I see these type of coverage is basically telling us you know that asian-americans are not really Americans or the perpetual foreigners and so one of the main mission of aaja is to hold media accountable for how they portrayed asian-americans are they doing it fairly and accurately and when you think about this segment you know they portray it as news but when you look at the content is not news right is borderline offensiveness and and you know and it's these type of behavior and these type of segments we we need to eliminate it has no place in journalism right Karen Paul brings up an important point there what he describes as American mask you know these videos tend to look at people in a different way they try to alienate people it's yet another example of stereotyping we see this it's rampant in other parts of the United States as well what effect does this type of stereotyping have on you and you get the feeling that you're living in an America that's different from the America that white folk are living in great question and you know seeing that video really brings home that that point that Paul raised around always being treated as foreigners as a community doesn't matter how long an individual or an entire ethnic group in the asian-american community has been here we were we are always viewed as being foreign and that has a real impact I work at a civil rights organization and we see the very real consequences when our community members are continually portrayed as foreign the conflation of China and Chinese Americans right continually happening during the political rhetoric right now by mainstream news media any anger felt towards China for example is then redirected towards Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans and that's a very real context that things like hate crimes happen in our country and we've seen a jump in hate crimes in fact against Chinese for example because of the kind of political rhetoric and these kinds of so-called jokes that are taking place there Clarence and I want to I want to add you know when they talk about these jokes you know it's not a recent thing right when you think about one of the unbroken thread in US history with asian-american discrimination is precisely that right when you're thinking going back to Chinese Exclusion Act through the Japanese internment camp you know all these jokes had led have serious consequences and in more recent memory when you think about the Deaf offense and chin he was murdered because people presume he was a Japanese auto worker and you know especially here in New York when you think back about private Danny Chen you know because of racial slur that resulted in his death and this is not funny you know Clarence this is wild many people people in the media as well we look at the satirical show The Daily Show which has been more of a liberal bent but this is how they responded to it there was a bit of a scathing response let's watch how was that how was that on the news in fact how is that even on TV whether this come from I mean everyone's been wondering who'd be the tag of 2016's worst racism I'd even know Asians are in the running this might come as a surprise but Chinese Americans do actually have genuine thoughts on this year's election that's why I went to Chinatown to speak to people in a language they understood human they go jumping - when you eat a turkey you know you're a woman uriga 20 and just make oil depends and Erica you go to Tom why men lie that you need that sugar to go finding that they don't I do so to push our woman and statistician enter the make one is that Nick Nick Liat a gamete of big off terms of Tyson LM very famous come on okay Michael Oh Talia kalakanya Oh water machine tock tick' Cala alpha in Newman wait you understand American politics enough for the lodge a protest vote definitely you mentioned I'm a would say to atomic when she a kinda handsome young gentleman Mesa so don't watch it upon your she and I comment on say so yeah are you adversary not today him way she I'm huh which money told me Watson's of amia from Queens were your thoughts on the Jesse Watters video on Fox News the chicken reporter who came down here and thought he was big because he talked to people couldn't speak English I that bag he's a the one who was sent here by the larger chicken who couldn't come to Chinatown because he was afraid to do it himself even that one yeah that guy the one with no test the one who came down here who said let me talk to some old people in love to eat let me put them on camera without asking them and sort of put them on national television and made fun of them in the worst possible way that okay I think we're talking about the same guy right all right always the question again I can remember that Clarence to get back to the question that reporter post right at the opening of that segment how can this be news clearly it was not news at all but here we have a country the United States which prides itself on the diversity on you know wide range of people who live in this country did it surprise you that Fox broadcast this it doesn't entirely surprised me I think you know the medium of television and of the mainstream media really has an opportunity kind of broaden the public's perspective of different cultures and different Heritage's and I think Fox has had a history and a record of running counter to that this is really discouraging because you know the executives knew that this potentially could be generating controversy I think Bill O'Reilly the hostess show even said on air immediately after was there that this could generate letters so you know the executives I at Fox News knew this was going to generate controversy knew that there could be backlashes and they continued to air this type of and it really is incumbent on us as an asian-american community to come together to organize to speak out strongly against this so that these networks know and mainstream media outlets know that this type of behavior is unacceptable that you know it will hurt their ratings it will hurt their business when advertisers pull out when people turn their eyes away from those channels because we are really here in the u.s. a built on a culture of diversity of inclusion and having segments like this completely runs counter to those core philosophies that we so hope ear go ahead you know it was also quite ironic that it would happen and come out this week because earlier this week the National asian-american survey came out with the largest in language poll of asian-american voters so there is actually fresh new content to talk about the role of asian-american voters and how they view this particular election and and so that they can actually do a real news story on this but the choice actually take this racist route and portray us in a stereotypical way you know as Clarence points out generating controversy certainly but did the folk at Fox News take a gamble and say well it may generate controversy but it's also going to generate advertising dollars for us I think this is where they are mistaking the um thinking about how the asian-american here we have a network and I looked at some figures the average age of the person that watches Fox News is over 68 I do not mean to disparage people who are over 68 at all and predominantly white do you think they took the they guess that this is gonna resonate with them well also the reality is that they need to think forward because with this new millennial generation that's coming up they're already saying that asian-american Pacific Islanders net worth in terms of buying power is over a hundred twenty five billion dollars and supposed to go over to 1.1 trillion in in the upcoming years so the reality is that if you're going to look at where the dollars are you cannot disparage this community and ignore them and in addition it's not just the Asian American Pacific Islander community it's also a broader community because it wasn't just those of us who are outraged I mean the folks up in New York that protested it was a broad coalition of those in New York that came together to voice their opinions on this right Paul of course this is been making big news on CCTV as well we've got quite a big response on our digital platforms we received a range of responses in our message boards here's one of them this is one viewer a one person who listens to us who said I watched the segment and found it funny my wife also thought it was funny she is Han Chinese from baoding this is mainly an attack on Fox News by the politically correct crowd another response we had was I think it was simply so unfunny that people didn't think it was supposed to be humor because the humor is pretty cliche really what do you make of that kind of response people who say well it's really not a big deal well you know this is actually very common questions that we get every time we issue a statement when we try to hold Media accountable for the coverage and you know when you think through about that is what is the value of news what are the principle of journalism right we're here to inform we're here to inform an issue that's very complicated and to really shed light on something that we feel the audience know and as a new segment you have to ask what what value that it brought to the audience what light did it shed to you know for the audience for their audience to understand the complicated you know issues between China and us and also this elections so I think you know when when folks think about you know the the particular segment and say well you know it's meant to be humor it wasn't it's supposed to be informative they are a news show and it's not informative I mean when you think about what the reporter is doing you know I really do question where are the standards and ethics right they transparent with the people that they interview in terms of how they approaching the format of the show did the people they interview even know how they be in portray right so if they don't we are really talking about some serious bridges of this the basic tenants of journalism it certainly didn't inform us it just reinforced prejudice I guess Karen if we look more broadly at the media in the United States and I talk and the broader sense the media from movies to television to radio to magazines and newspapers we don't have many asian-americans who are represented here in popular culture in the United States but there is one place you will find them that's the ABC comedy it's a big popular comedy called fresh off the boat about an asian-american family that live in Florida and it has an all Asian cost let's take a look an excerpt from that come sit with us Oh getting it out here Jing Ming is eating worms I need white people lunch is the u.s. media here perpetuating stereotypes oh are they poking fun of them are you asking about yes are you asking about the the news media well that particular segment that which we saw from ABC that segment from fresh off the bird I'm sorry I can't see the segment here in Los Angeles but you know on fresh off the boat I would say you know the contrast for me between having something like fresh off the boat on television and then having sort of the ridiculousness that was the waters world segment is that you know I think Fox took the lazy way out I mean that whole entire five minutes that they spent supposedly interviewing Chinese in Chinatown in New York around political sentiment was all constructed around sort of a simplistic notion of what Asians or Chinese Americans are and the thing I appreciate about some of the breakthroughs in diversity on network and other television platforms right now like fresh off the boat is that it prevents it presents a much more nuanced and complex sense of who asian-americans are because that's exactly what we are the Daily Show segment I thought was fascinating because you know when people are interviewed in their language if English is not their first language of course they have no comments but you know these people being interviewed actually had very complicated very complex political thoughts and so I think that you know in general I think that that we are seeing a move towards an increase in diversity and a diverse kind of portrayal of communities like Asian Americans but we certainly haven't gone far enough but I do think that is the trend I do think the Fox News segment really takes you three or four or five giant steps backwards Clarence the US congresswoman Judy Chu released a statement on that video and the statement reads as the fastest growing racial population in the United States and an increasingly in front influential voting bloc Asian American and Pacific Islanders deserve better coverage than being the butt of a joke when we hear that what impact does being the butt of a joke have I think it's really discouraging to those members of the asian-american community who really want to be a part of our political process you know and it's really discouraging when you look at the broader picture of our political discourse these days is it the environment that we're in that's generating these controversies that's generating ratings when people make controversial statements and we really need to turn away from that we as elected officials need to help elevate the discussion help bring people up so that we understand different cultures different issues get the nuances of policies unfortunately we live an environment in a day and age where you know facilitated a bit by the mainstream media that everything is boiled down to sound bites and you know a tweet and you know the elevated discourse is not rewarded people are not provided the additional time to be able to speak about issues to really understand the nuances right and to help you know incorporate people's thoughts and and and actions into them and of course it's very easy for people to write this off for saying well look it's a joke it's very funny etc that's a bit of a cop-out isn't it because not everybody feels that way especially the people who are the target of that joke right it certainly can be very offensive to those who find it discouraging and disappointing and so you know I think it's one thing to have these types of outlets you know on different medium that it's not a news channel where people might be a little bit better prepared for a different humor but I think in the end this pushed the line too far there's ways that you can be humorous and be funny you know I think Bill O'Reilly said that this was gentle fun this is more than just gentle fun this is really putting down a certain culture making fun of people's heritage and really going into someone's home Chinatown in New York City and poking fun directly at the people who live there Christine you've done weather I do want to put go ahead push back a little bit about just framing the media as one giant you know entity I mean that there's a lot of responsible media out there that's really doing a lot of great story that's putting a lot of context and nuances so I just want to make sure that you know we we put that out and also one of the main mission of aaja is to really educate our constituent our members and our community how they could better engage the media right not just you know through the broadcast outlet but also socially you know how do we engage reporters and editors and social medias to writing op-eds and in fact I encourage more people to write op-eds you know to really voice their opinion and their concern with this particular issues this is how our voices is being heard you know asian-americans in media is a small fraction right but we have a bigger community and it's really time for our community to voice up just like the segment say you know speak speak well we are speaking you make a great point there about the media and we tend to fall into this trap sometime of just talking about the media of course represents a wide range of views opinions attitudes poor looking at newsrooms in the United States 17% of traditional newsrooms have people of color in them or at least people of color make up 17% of traditional newsrooms 23% of digital only in newsrooms so when we look at this is the source this is my information comes from what role does diversity play in newsrooms oh yeah it's huge implications right when you think about the type of coverage the reason why we see you know more diverse coverage because some of the you know editors and journals of colors are really help shaping the narrative and therefore we need more people of colors to enter into the industry and not only enter but to really ascend to leadership role and because the leaders are the one that will hold accountability for example in my day to day job I do question about you know are we being fair and accurate are we quoting are we getting the most diverse sources that we can understand same story are we going back to the same talking head because we're comfortable with them how are we represent different views not just across race but religions and and geographic diversity is also very important right Christine of course you've done a lot of work about attitudes and opinions and the views of people this segment on Fox News was being touted as a political segment to find out the views of Chinese Americans on the two presidential candidates what are they abused are there any way of telling right now where they fall so according to our polling that we had conducted earlier this spring as well as the latest poll actually Asian American Pacific Islander voters are leaning heavily toward the Democrats and for supporting Hillary Clinton typically asian-american Pacific Islanders over half do not identify with a political party but when they do Democrats have a two-to-one advantage but what we're seeing in 2016 that's actually shifting to the advantage of the Democrats Republicans are losing out on their support and more are actually identify as undecided or they're going toward the Democrats Kerry has Kristen do you think that the current political climate in the United States sort of makes it acceptable for these views to be made and for these views to be heard I think it's a great question yes I mean I do think that over the last I think more than 12 months you know particularly around the ramping up of the presidential race as early as last year there has been an increase in the sort of anti China or the framing of China or Chinese or anything related to China as being an economic or other sort of enemy and I think that that kind of messaging is extremely dangerous because it does create a climate where it becomes more acceptable for people to act out and so you know in Los Angeles County for example there was just a new report released last week it looked at hate crimes documented eight crimes in LA County one of the most diverse counties in the country in 2015 and it did find a significant spike in the number of hate attacks targeting people who were Chinese as well as Muslims and and we think that there's no it's not a coincidence there has been an uptick and anti-muslim rhetoric there has been an uptick around blaming China both political and other rhetoric around blaming China there are these wrongful prosecutions of Chinese scientists that have been happening all this is the context that's happening and it does I think make people feel like it's okay to blame the Chinese or Chinese Americans so yes I pretty much think that that rhetoric is is responsible

Channel: CGTN America

Views: 52,999

Rating: 4.7731342 out of 5

Keywords: asian american, chinatown, chinese americans, christine chen, fox news, karin wang, lisa chiu, paul cheung, sean callebs, the heat

Id: YrtkNfwE5_s

Length: 23min 45sec (1425 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2016