Testimony : ONE PERSON’S STORY ABOUT CHINESE IN AMERICA : ‘They Don’t Think They Need to Change’

Joseph Jinn, 37, arrived in America nine years ago and for the past four years has been a popular anchor of the Chinese - language news show on cable station KCSI. He was fired late last month in a dispute over his reporting of the visit to Los Angeles by Taiwan ‘s premier , Chan Lien.

In Southern California we have around 500,000 to 600,000 overseas Chinese that are from Taiwan. People tell me that at least another 100,000 have come directly from the mainland. This is a big community.

Taiwan is so close. From Los Angeles to Taiwan, it’s 15 hours. And because the interaction is so frequent, the Southern Californian Chinese community cannot just say, “We are Chinese, we need to do some assimilation . . .” Assimilation is very, very hard, because so many--60%--are new immigrants. They have money, they have businesses, they are a really big community. If you’ve been to San Gabriel you know. They don’t need to speak English, really; they don’t need to go to the American supermarket.

They’re bringing over a lot of habits from Taiwan. They don’t have to adapt. People can live their life well here; they can have their Chinese life. Last week was the Chinese New Year; you could go to Monterey Park and San Gabriel and celebrate the Chinese New Year in your own way. They don’t want to change; they don’t think they need to change.

A phenomenal thing is that even when the economic situation is so bad in the whole nation, the Chinese community here is not affected. Because they can sustain themselves so well. They buy things from the Chinese-owned market. They sell things to Taiwan and to mainland China. They bring in money from Taiwan.

A lot of people still have family in Taiwan, they still have businesses in Taiwan. They buy and sell stocks in Taiwan, get rich and come to the United States and buy a house here and stay here, and then fly back to Taiwan and make some money and come back. It’s a common practice. So even when the economy is so bad here, the Chinese community is never affected. You see how many Mercedes-Benz are being driven around (by Chinese people)?

In recent years the Chinese American community has become more complex than ever before. The Southern California Chinese community is a miniature model of Taiwan; it is an extension of Taiwan’s political struggle.

In 1949 the Kuomintang government fled mainland China to Taiwan and many people from mainland China were expatriated to Taiwan. Conflict between these expatriates and the original Taiwanese who were born there has grown bigger and bigger ever since. Some people from Taiwan are pro-Taiwanese independence, for example, (as opposed to reunification with mainland China), and these tensions are carried over into Southern California.

And so the handling of the news, especially in the Chinese community, requires special sensitivity in regards to the story itself--the way you report.

I’m Chinese, I know how and what I should write about, what I should report about, the way I should handle the news. I know the nuances, the differences, and I know how to handle them correctly. However, the station, the American boss--KSCI is owned by Citicorp--sometimes they don’t appreciate that sensitivity.

Like in my situation. I did a report that didn’t please certain parties. I did a report about the Jan. 24 reception for Taiwanese Premier Chan Lien and I was a bit critical, a little sarcastic. I said the tables at the party were not fully filled, and I said the premier was received by former President Reagan--and I also noted that, actually, Reagan is not that difficult to visit! I said that because the relationship between Taiwan and the United States is so subtle--there is no formal diplomatic relationship--Premier Lien’s visit to L.A. was very difficult and so it was played it low-key.

Because the station got a complaint, just a partial complaint from a very small section of the Chinese community, I was fired.

The station thought that complaint represented a whole segment of the Chinese community’s opinion. That’s totally wrong. In the Chinese community, you just cannot write anything that will be totally accepted by all sides, because of that complexity I just told you about.

The major media in the Chinese community have a tendency to be friendly to the Taiwanese government. They are influenced by certain (economic powers) from Taiwan, some political interests from Taiwan. That’s why the people here always complain they cannot get candid reports from the Chinese media.

As a reporter, I’ve been trying very hard to do that. To balance that. That’s why I got viewer support not only from people from Taiwan, but also people from mainland China. And this is very difficult. I’m very appreciative of their support, I’m very proud of it, because the rule here is if you work for a media (outlet) which is pro-Taiwan government, it is very hard to get the support or recognition of readers from mainland China, and vice versa. And I did that.

My dismissal will have a chilling effect on the future of unbiased, independent, candid reporting in the Chinese community. I was kind of naive, thinking, “I’m employed by an American TV station, so this can be an example; we can do independent news reporting here. However, 90% of the show’s sponsors were Taiwanese businesses, so you still felt a lot of influence out there. That’s why things happened the way they did.

This is a big community. And how to serve the community, how to inform them takes a lot of courage, a lot of determination. We have a long way to go.