AAJA Cites BBC For Using Derogatory Term

August 22, 2008

AAJA National President Jeanne Mariani-Belding sent the following letter informing them on errors made during a specific broadcast.

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August 18, 2008

Steve Titherington
BBC World Service
Bush House
Strand
London WC2B 4PH

Dear Steve Titherington:

On August 6, 2008, BBC World News aired a radio story about the Olympic Torch run through the Tiananmen Gate (airing at 9 pm on many NPR stations in the USA), during which a BBC reporter described the torchbearer as "Yao Ming, the world's most famous Chinaman."

We at the Asian American Journalists Association are deeply concerned by the casual use of a term that is highly offensive and regarded as a racial slur. The AP Stylebook and numerous dictionaries have long flagged this word as derogatory.

For Americans of Chinese descent, this word carries particular sting because it was a rallying cry to drive all Chinese and other Asians from the United States as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign beginning in the late nineteenth century. We also note that this is not the first time the BBC World News has been criticized for offending its listeners with this term. In 2004, a tribunal in South Africa ordered the BBC to sign a letter of apology for committing hate speech when it aired this offensive term on another World Service sports broadcast. (See http://www.bccsa.co.za/templates/judgement_template_225.asp)

We know that the BBC has high standards in its use of language, and we hope this is the last time such offensive language appears without news purpose in your broadcasts. We urge the BBC to review its editorial practices and policies on using racial and ethnic slurs. We are sure that there are words that the BBC sports desk would never use when describing ethnic Britons or people of other racial/ethnic groups and this word is just as offensive.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Mariani-Belding
AAJA National President