David Bandurski of the University of Hong Kong’s China media project quotes from an article by Patrick Whiteley, a China Daily columnist. Whiteley took issue with an article by The Telegraph‘s China correspondent Peter Foster, who had previously referred to the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda as propaganda. According to Whiteley, it’s no longer propaganda, and Foster only uses this dirty word because it carries a sinister ring. Whiteley recommends PR as a replacement.
Foster apparently enjoyed the quarrel. Every few years, the Telegraph sends another unharmonized barbarian to Beijing. Richard Spencer, the paper’s China correspondent until recently, has moved to the Middle East.
The article which probably started it all was this one.
