February 19, 2009
Today’s newspaper covers were generally dominated by the news that a cargo ship sank in Russian waters on February 14, but newspapers in different regions differed in how they approached the incident.
Beijing’s newspapers did not play up the incident. The Beijing News did not mention the sinking outright in its headline, which read “Chinese seamen encounter accident in Russia, seven missing.” And the Beijing Times didn’t mention it at all on the cover.
The Global Times, well known for framing issues to fit a nationalist reporting angle, seemed fairly restrained this time: its top headline celebrated the $25-billion loan-for-oil deal signed yesterday by China and Russia. Underneath, the main photo showed a fatigued-looking US president, with the caption: “Obama’s credibility has been undermined by the American economy.”
February 19, 2009
Under a headline reading “Chinese cargo ship rumored to have been sunk by the Russian navy,” the article reported:
On February 18th, Russian media broke the news that a warship had fired on a foreign cargo ship, causing it to sink. According to the report, the Sierra Leone-registered ship was owned by a Chinese citizen. The media coverage of the imprudent act of the Russian warship dampened the friendly spirit between the two countries on the same day they were signing a oil-loan contract. At present, information appears contradictory. Some Russian officials said that the sinking of the ship, which was suspected of smuggling, was caused by bad weather. However, Russian media reported that the ship was sunk after gunfire from the Russian navy.
The incident inspired stronger responses in provincial newspapers, with some of them pairing the news with a recent claim by the Philippines over two disputed islands. The headline on the cover of today’s Xiamen Economic Daily reads: “Ambitious Philippines seeks to occupy Chinese islands; Barbaric Russian warship sinks Chinese cargo ship.”
- Global Times (Chinese): Rumor has it that Chinese cargo ship was sunk by the Russian navy