Media outlets praise anti-lockdown protesters in China after condemning American demonstrators as ‘extremists’

Chinese protesting against the severe COVID restrictions by the Chinese Communist Party has received widespread praise and accolades from much of the media in the United States. However, when Americans protested COVID restrictions, the same media outlets struck a much different tone.

The New York Times published a story that highlighted the Chinese protestors' personal stories and the harm caused by Chinese President Xi Jinping's ‘Zero Covid’ policy.

"President Xi Jinping’s unbending approach to the pandemic has hurt businesses and strangled growth, squeezing the world’s second-largest economy," the Times reported Tuesday.

In a separate article, the Times lauded praise on young people protesting against the government's harsh lockdowns. "By standing up to the government, they defied the perception of their generation," the Times wrote.

However, American protesters were not met with the same praise. Rather than highlighting the economic pain Americans faced during the government imposed lockdowns, articles published by the Times painted Americans who opposed such measures as extremists.

In May 2020, the Times published an article titled, "The Coronavirus Becomes a Battle Cry for U. S. Extremists".

"America’s extremists are attempting to turn the coronavirus pandemic into a potent recruiting tool both in the deep corners of the internet and on the streets of state capitals by twisting the public health crisis to bolster their white supremacist, anti-government agenda," the Times reported.

In a report published in April 2020, the New York Times described anti-lockdown demonstrations as "right-wing protests of social distancing restrictions". The Times used the term "right-wing protesters" in a headline for another article that month as well.

The Washington Post editorial board similarly treated Chinese protestors much more favorably than Americans. In April 2020, the editors described opposition to lockdowns as a "wide-ranging and well-financed conservative campaign to undermine restrictions that medical experts say are necessary to contain the coronavirus".... (Read more)

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