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CBS Incident Committee News Release No 17
Reply-To: Miao Ye <my@euler.math.luc.edu>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Editorial Board of CBS Incident Committee %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Thursday, October 13, 1994 (No. 17)
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Table of Contents # of Lines
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1. US CCR upcoming meeting this Friday - Need our campaign push ........... 12
2. CBS-IC's Letter to EVERY US CCR commissioners .......................... 83
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1. US CCR upcoming meeting this Friday - Need our campaign push ........... 12
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Hi, everyone, US CCR failed to issue a letter to CBS in the last two
monthly meetings, due to some commissioners's variouse concerns and positions.
This coming Friday all the commissioners are getting together and our
complain is on their table. CBS Incident Committee believes that US CCR
commissioners need some extra push to look at this issue more seriously,
and start to issue the strongest letter possible to exert pressure upon
CBS. Although US CCR is sympathetic to us, but we need their strong action
more than anything else. We CBS-IC has drafted letters to address each and
everyone one of the commissioners, and all of the letters have been faxed
to them this morning aroun 2:30AM EDT. Now, please moblize as many people
as possible to call the following numbers to express our concerns, and urge
them to take actions.
You may call (202)-376-8177 switch board; or 800-552-6843 complain hotline.
Then ask to speak to the commissioners at the meeting, get their fax numbers,
voice our concerns, fax them your version of the complain letters. Together we
can make another difference!
The following are the numbers you may want to try as well (CBS-IC official
letter is attached at the endof this message)
Here the list goes:
Honorable Mary Frances Berry O (202)-376-7417
F (202)-376-7558
Assistant Krishna Toolsie O (202)-376-7419
Honorable Cruz Reynoso O (310)-206-5624
F (310)-206-6489
H (209)-748-2719
Assistant Tom Gray O (310)-206-3653
Honorable Carl A.Anderson O (202)-628-2355
F (202)-628-1243
H (703)-534-9114
Assistant: Prof. Joseph Broadus O (703)-993-8031
H (703)-972-1954
Honorable Arthur A. Fletcher O (303)-871-2441
Secretary Judy Miller O (303)-871-4171
O (202)-547-7890
F (202)-547-7966
Assistant: Renata Anderson O (202)-376-7572
F (202)-376-7577
Honorable Robert P. George O (609)-258-3270
F (609)-258-6837
H (609)-683-1304
Assistant: Dennis Teti O (202)-376-7676
F (202)-376-8315
H (202)-484-8181
Honorable Constance Horner O (202)-797-6053
F (202)-362-3069
Assistant: Ron Brown O (202)-376-7628
H (202)-965-0429
Honorable Russell G. Redenbaugh O (215)-988-0352
O (415)-521-6190
F (215)-567-1681
H (215)-238-8894
Assistant: Rachel Budd O (215)-988-0353
H (215)-627-1368
Honorable Charlse Pei Wang O (212)-385-1697
F (212)-383-1702
H (201)-299-0779
Assistant: Laurie Kitazono O (202)-725-3840
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2. CBS-IC's Letter to EVERY US CCR commissioners .......................... 83
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Mr. Lin Huang
National Coordinator
CBS Incident Committee (CBSIC)
3044 Albany Crescent, 1G
Bronx, NY 10463
(718)-548-9114
October 13, 1994
US Commission on Civil Rights
Honorable Charles Rivera:
I am writing to you as National Coordinator of the CBS Incident
Committee (CBSIC) and as Chair of the Civil Rights Committee of
the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars
(IFCSS), regarding the CBS News segment aired on May 19 alleging
every ordinary ethnic Chinese in the US as potential spies.
IFCSS is the national organization of Chinese students and
scholars in the United States, and CBSIC is a nationwide assembly
of 80 working volunteers and more than 6,000 members who have
joined together to protest against this apparent racial attack on
ethnic Chinese.
On May 19, CBS Evening News announced that China runs the
"biggest spy network in America", and that "ordinary" Chinese in
the US are routinely being recruited by Ministry of State
Security as spies or "future spies" when they are applying
passports to go to the United States, who "a few years down the
road, will be activated to steal America's military and
technological secrets." In a letter to the Vice President of the
IFCSS, the Vice President of CBS News declared that their
accusations are valid "according to the Defense Information [sic]
Agency."
Over the last five months several thousands protest letters have
been sent to CBS from this community. Our committee also has
written to Commissioner Charles Rivera on this issue. However,
there is no positive response from the CBS so far.
To many ethnic Chinese, the CBS report is not just another
tabloid news piece which can be simply ignored. This report
jeopardizes our livelihood, our careers and our future. In the
ensuing paragraph I would like to cite a few instances to show
how innocent people have been hurt in this spy witch hunt and why
people have fears and nightmares after this CBS report has been
aired.
Case number I, a Chinese American working for an US government
agency was reported by an informant as a possible Chinese spy.
His office was searched, computer files were scanned and private
communications compromised, but he was found innocent. However
his employer, scared to death of the so-called biggest Chinese
spy network in America, fired him on the ground that he has used
his computing equipment for private e-mail files that were not
related to his work.
Case number II, a Chinese national was employed by a private U.S.
firm. He was working there for just a few month when CBS aired
that report. Within days his employment was terminated, and the
only obvious reason is that his company just received a military
contract.
Although stories like these involve only a fraction of the
Chinese population, they cause immense fears of repression and
racial discrimination within the Chinese community. The incident
happened at the time many schools of higher education proceeding
commencement. The report hits many college graduates hard. Since
the CBS incident, Ms. Li Yingying, a Graduate Student Advisor at
MIT, has received many students of Chinese origin expressing
their fears of being suspected as foreign spies simply because
they are born into Chinese! People expressed their worries to her
are not just students who are currently looking for jobs, but
also some recent graduates who has been working. The report is
not only totally unaccountable and irresponsible, but really
hurting people psychologically and socially.
Many organizations and individuals, on assumption that there must
be Chinese spies in the world, become careful and cautions in
their social activities. As the National Coordinator on the CBS
Incident, I have been advised not to uncover the lies and to
fight the injustice, but to keep quiet. In a Chinese saying, keep
the tails between our legs. This is not something that is
supposed to happen in a free country!!!
The logic CBS report used for its witch hunt goes like this:
since most Chinese have relatives in Mainland China who can be
held as hostage by the government, they have to spy for China.
And even if they are not spies now, they will be spies in the
future, thus subjecting virtually every Chinese and indeed every
Asian looking person to brutal speculation. In doing so, the CBS
not only has attacked the personal integrity of every ethnic
Chinese by questioning their motives of coming to this country,
but also insulted many of us who have fought hard for freedom and
democracy under extremely dangerous conditions.
After extensive research by our committee members, we have found
many serious cases of inaccuracy, exaggeration and outright lies
in the CBS report. As you can see, and I hope you will also
agree, the way this particular report is done in constructing the
whole spy theory are flawed to say the least, and their attitude
toward the original source of data is hardly professional. Once
the distorted pictures presented are accepted by the general
public and become deeply rooted through the news media they will
bring nothing but racial tensions to this society. They will
create prejudice, stir fear, arouse suspicion and generate
resentment and even hatred toward ordinary Chinese, be they
employees, job applicants, business partners, next door neighbors
or even oriental looking strangers walking down the street!
Recently our committee has compiled a comprehensive report on
this incident, based upon our several month's research, which is
totally in contradictory to the CBS report. However, our report
has been turned down by even some local Chinese newspapers on the
ground that our results are not consistent with the CBS! This
highlights the profound damage which has been done by CBS, which
has been regarded as a reliable source of information, and the
anchorwoman, Ms. Connie Chung, who aired the program, has been
perceived as a knowledgeable insider of China!
The news organizations are entitled to their opinions on the
Chinese community. We recognize that and we respect their
assessment of the espionage situation based on the information
they think they have, so long as the information is true and the
assessment unbiased. However, we feel that it is irresponsible
and professionally unethical on the part of CBS to express
opinions to the public without any justification and without
considering the possible damages those opinions may cause.
We support Ms. Chung as a minority individual who has achieved
celebrity status by her hard work. However, protecting one
person's achievement should not victimize tens of thousands of
people's lives. And Ms. Chung is not the only one who is
responsible for this incident. Ms. Chung has apologized on a
Chinese publication with very limited circulation, which is far
from enough to comfort people's fears and to stop their
nightmares.
There are many possible remedies from the CBS that we look for
which may let our members feel more secure for their civil
rights. For instance:
1. Apologize on air about the May 19 program, for
A. being unbalanced;
B. wrong choice of words like "ordinary";
C. wrongfully targeting ONLY the ethnic Chinese;
D. the paranoid views about "Chinese spy network".
2. Apologize on printed media
We can even offer making connections to reporters, including the
Chinese media. Many of them are interested.
3. Produce and broadcast a balanced report about
A. those ethnic Chinese who work hard for the United States
B. those authoritative opinions, including the US government
and prominent scholars, against the Chinese "spy threat".
C. those opinions that are clearly racist, anti-immigrant in
the name of anti-spy.
4. Arrange an interview with Connie Chung, Dan Rather and our
members and other concerned organizations to address this and
related issues.
5. Release a written statement addressing all of our concerns in
our official letter to Mr. Venardos, the Vice President of the
CBS News Division.
Dear Commissioner, thank you for your attention. I am looking
forward to your kind response.
Sincerely,
Lin Huang
P.S.
This is a accompanying letter further regarding the CBS Incident.
The sole source of the CBS information is a Mr. Eftimiades, a
self-proclaimed agent of Defense Intelligence Agency. However, in
a response to our inquiry, the agency openly declared that Mr.
Eftimiades was acting as a private individual, and he is not even
employed in the Defense Intelligence Agency in the capacity of a
China expert. When he wrote his little black book, he was working
on MIA task force, which has nothing to do with Chinese
intelligence. Therefore, We are questioning the appropriateness
on the part of Mr. Eftimiades to seek personal gains by posing as
a credible agent from a government agency which has authority on
the subject matter that his personal profit venture is based on.
We understand that the DIA can not possibly authorize Mr.
Eftimiades' book and his public appearances, but the public will
perceive Mr. Eftimiades as an "insider" of the agency in the name
of an active agent, and having access to internal top secret
information which led him to reach his unsubstantiated
conclusions.
Mr. Eftimiades obtained clearance for public release of the
manuscript of his book in 1992 from the Department of Defense.
However it is only a security clearance and there has been no
public report on whether ethic codes are violated.
We hope the Commission on Civil Rights will look into this
matter, too.
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% Editor of CBS Incident Committee: Miao Ye, Xiangdong Shi %
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