China demands better apology

BEIJING — Ratcheting up an active campaign against what it calls Western media bias, China demanded a "sincere apology" from CNN for statements made by commentator Jack Cafferty who last week called the Chinese "goons and thugs."

CNN offered an apology Tuesday, but the Chinese rejected it as not good enough. CNN's Beijing bureau chief was summoned to a meeting at the Chinese Foreign Ministry Wednesday night, and a ministry spokeswoman said the global news network needed to do more to "take back the vicious remarks."

China's fight with CNN is part of a broader effort to challenge those who question its response to protests in Tibet last month or who criticize the Olympic torch relay, which ran through New Delhi on Thursday under heavy guard.

Although Western media are a particular target, political figures such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are also fair game.

CNN has been under fire since late March, when its Web site, CNN.com, ran a photo of the March 14 riot in Lhasa that was cropped to cut out several Tibetan protesters pelting Chinese trucks with rocks. CNN issued a statement defending the photo, saying it was clear what was happening.

In the latest controversy, Cafferty on April 9 blasted Chinese exports as "junk with the lead paint on them" and lamented the large U.S.-China trade deficit as he described his view of the relationship between the two countries. "I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years," Cafferty said.

Following an outcry after the show appeared, Cafferty clarified that he was referring to the Chinese government, not the Chinese people in his remarks.