Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Controversy over Maclean's's "Too Asian?" article kept on boil

Maclean's magazine's so-called "Too Asian?" controversy simply will not die down. A group called The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) has rejected a letter from Rogers Publishing offering them a full-page ad in the magazine to "directly express to Maclean's audience your concerns" about the article in November. 
“We believe that Maclean’s has not adequately addressed our concerns and we seek an unqualified public apology from Maclean’s,” Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director said today. “In our view, since Rogers is the parent company of Maclean’s, then Rogers should step up and take ownership of this controversy.”
Even more interesting is that the CCNC has apparently arranged a meeting in the new year with Heritage Minister James Moore and has asked in writing for the Commons standing committee on Canadian Heritage to initiate a study of the Canada Periodical Fund -- presumably to see if Maclean's's funding can be revoked, similar to a letter written earlier by Senator Vivienne Poy (see earlier post).
The CCNC has also done a detailed parsing of the original article and contacted people quoted in it, some of whom said they were misquoted or their remarks were taken out of context. 
“These responses from interviewees themselves point to numerous significant errors by Maclean’s writers and editors, Victor Wong added. “There are just so many problems with the “Too Asian”? article that it simply doesn’t meet the standard for good journalism.”

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

... a courtesy that Rogers refused to extend to the Muslim community after they published a way more offensive article by Mark Steyn.

I think they should publish whatever the hell they want; they're clearly full of crap, but it's their right to be morons. But the double standard is interesting...

3:54 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Macleans is a desperate attempt to sell more magazines has resorted to controversial journalism tactics that will only diminish their brand with advertisers over the short and long term due to their cultural insensitivity.

If readers boycott the products advertising in the magazine, you will see a change in philosophy and somebody out of a job.

8:17 am  

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