OBN Asia
Order of the Brown Nose with an Asian touch!
We pointed out some time ago that one of the sure signs of a newspaper being on the rails is when it begins advertising itself in its own pages. Sadly, the South China Morning Post has expanded this effort from quarter page puffs to whole pages. Witness this cringing - and ungrammatical - featurette with Hong Kong's least photogenic man Allan Semen. The demise of the Kuok organ cannot be very far away.
ASIAN ORDER OF THE BROWN NOSE
We revive this neglected feature of NTSCMP for Time Magazine Asia's list of Asian heroes and their choice for the front page. When you have to choose from Aung San Suu Kyi, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, better grovel to the rich. In order to keep up the circulation figures, the same feature actually includes Lee "Turd World" Kuan Yew.
ARMSTRONG AND TORODE WIN AOBN AHEAD OF TIME
Right: The paragraphs which clinched the prize.
The Asian Order of the Brown Nose Award 2004 has been awarded already in view of the extraordinary arslikhan exhibited in past months by David Armstrong (Editor-in-Chief) and Greg Torode (News Editor) at the South China Morning Post. "The decision was unanimous," announced Dr George Adams, chairman of the AOBN 2004 Jury citing:
The pair's devoted and indeed blind following of Government Information Service directives and propaganda, particularly in Mr Tung's attempts to demonstrate an upturn in the economy ahead of the elections.
The editorial team's feigned outrage at ICAC raids on the newspaper's offices followed by prompt and resolute insistence not to pursue the matter in the courts.
The amazing toadying prowess demonstrated recently in the coverage of Tiananmen Massacre Deng and his ridiculous centenary exhibition.
Above: An ecstatic David Armstrong after the unanimous decision.
" The Jury was particularly impressed by a piece which appeared on page 2 of the SCMP on Saturday 28th August, 2004. In three paragraphs the pair not only licked up to Peking but also to their owner in a way which was excruciating to behold. This was the clincher for us, following as it did another ream of Government spin bilge about the economy leading Page One."
The Award Ceremony will take place at the FCC in September.
-----------
" Macau chief executive Edmund Ho has added his views to the recent barrage of comments made on what amounts to patriotism. Mr Ho said the words of the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping made in the 1980s and cited in today's People's Daily still carry important significance. He said his administration would govern Macau in accordance with both the Basic Law and Mr Deng's remarks. He added that every Macau resident should learn to be patriotic. That, he said, would be beneficial to the successful implementation of one country, two systems." (RTHK, 2004-02-21 HKT 02:08)
Ng Tin-chi, Letter to the Editor, SCMP, 30/12/ 2003
---------------
"Vittachi is also to some degree (sic) a practicing satirist, and the targets of his satire are all inclusive. I use the phrase "to some degree," because in general satire is cruel and frankly judgmental, or can be cruel, but my sense of Vittachi's brand of satire is that it contains at least as much love as it does ridicule and certainly that love extends to Wong himself. The Feng Shui Detective Goes South is published by Chameleon Press, a firm associated with The Asian Review of Books. "
Robert Abel, Asian Review of Books, 08/05/2002