%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  Editorial Board of CBS Incident Committee  %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

                       Monday, August 1, 1994   (No. 11)

=============================================================================
Table of Contents                                                  # of Lines
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. A Statement of Appreciation From CBS Incident Committee to CSS Nation-wide
2. CBS Incident Committee has sent protest letters  ...................... 60
3. Concerned netters are encouraged to send your complains to FCC ........ 79
4. URGENT! Witness needed for CBS Incident .............................. 112
5. World Journal reported our protest compaign on the CNN incident ...... 153
6. CBS-IC's letter to Ms. Connie Chung .................................. 162
7. CBS-IC's Complain Letter to Mr. Charles Rivera ....................... 236
8. CBS-IC's protest letter to CNN Business News and Moneyline ........... 342
9. A follow-up letter to CNN Moneyline (drafted by Ray Wang) ............ 459
=============================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. A Statement of Appreciation From CBS Incident Committee to CSS ........ 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As of today, we have received more than $700 donations so far, 
and more are coming each day. We CBS Incident Committee wish to 
take this opportunity to thank all of you who have either devoted 
your precious time and energy in person or in monetary to support 
our common cause to fight against unfair media coverage. As the 
initial motivation of CBS Incident Committee, our highest goal is 
to seek a redress from CBS. However, we also realize that, the 
fighting against unfair media coverage is a long term cause and 
needs long term commitment. The CNN incident clearly shows us, 
with a well established and fighting ready watchdog organization 
to coordinate, and so many CSS nation-wide to stand up when 
situation arises, CNN had to take back their ridiculous 
allegation and acknowledge our outrage. Same is true to any other 
future incident to be and to this unsolved CBS incident.  Our CBS 
Incident Committee members are all volunteers who have been 
working full scale on their own time and pocket. Our financial 
restrain severely hampers our ability to launch more successful 
campaign. Thanks to your generous support to cover our material, 
communication and office supplies, we now begin to feel ease to 
launch our next letter campaign. With more your support we may be 
able to hire a legal consultant so we can launch our campaign 
more effectively. Our next campaign now moves to the Federal 
Communication Commission, which reviews and renews local TV 
station's license regularly, the US Commission of Civil Rights, 
which may launch an investigation into the alleged "MSS spy 
recruiting procedure" and the spy book writing procedure. Our 
ultimate success relies decisively on your support and 
commitment. Please suppor us financially as generous as possible!
Thank you very much!

Mi Mi Sr.

P.S.  Please make contributions payable to 
IFCSS/CBS Incident Fund, and mail it to 
Mr. Frank Chen / CBSIC
361 Ogden Avenue, 
Jersey City, NJ 07307
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. CBS Incident Committee has sent protest letters  ...................... 60
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBS Incident Committee has sent protest letters to major news media, CBS, and
civil rights agencies throughout the nation. The letters contain thousands
of signatures.

CBS Incident Committee wishes to thank all of those who participated our 
movement, those who will continue to strive to promote the fair image of 
ordinary Chinese-American in this country.

During the short two month history of CBS-IC, we have witnessed ups and downs.
The CNN incident, which started shortly ten days ago, has proven that, with a
strong community solidarity and determined commitment, we have made a 
difference. And we will make more differences!

United, we will make another difference!

Mi Mi Sr.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Concerned netters are encouraged to send your complains to FCC ........ 79
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Communication Commission is reviewing and renewing the licenses of
TV stations. It is a great channel to voice our complains, and demand CBS's
fair coverage. CBS Incident Committee has submit complain packages to the 
following FCC branches:

TV Division, FCC                Inforcement Division, FCC
1919 M Street N.W.              1919 M Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554          Washington, D.C. 20554
Phone: 202-418-1630             Phone: 202-632-3860 
FAX:    202-632-0158            FAX:    202-632-9659

Mr. Roy Steward, Chief          Mr. Norman Goldstein, Chief
Mass Media Bureau, FCC          Complains and Investigation, FCC
1919 M Street N.W.              1919 M Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554          Washington, D.C. 20554
Fax (202)-632-0158              Fax (202)-653-9659
Tel (202)-632-6460              Tel (202)-632-7048

Mr Reed Irvine, Chairman
Accuracy in Media
4455 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington DC 20008
Tel: 202-364-4401

Concerned netters are encouraged to send your complains to the above agencies
about the CBS's absurd, unfair practice.

United, we will make another difference!

Mi Mi Sr.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. URGENT! Witness needed for CBS Incident .............................. 112
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From Kam Tsang, relayed by CBSIC]
In this year's Unity '94, a conference of minority journalists
currently being held in Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta,
Georgia, Charles Rivera of the US Commission on Civil Rights revealed
that the Commission is considering looking into the May 19th CBS
report.  A decision has to be made in a meeting to be held on the
coming Tuesday (August 2, 1994) regarding possible actions against
CBS.  The commission is therefore urgently seeking individuals who
have been on either side in the process of visa application from the
Chinese government, namely those who have been questioned by the so
called Chinese Ministry of State Security or similar agencies, and
especially those who have been in a position such as an immigration
officer to ask such or similar questions.

If you have been in either one of the the above two situations,
especially the latter, please contact ASAP:

     Charles Rivera
     Director of Public Affairs
     US Commission on Civil Rights
     624 Ninth Street NW
     Room 737
     Washington, DC  20425

          202/376-8312
          202/376-8125
     fax: 202/376-8315

Obviously if you have been through the process of visa application
from the Chinese government and can witness to the contrary of what
was described in the CBS report, it will be very beneficial.

Please forward this message to newsgroups and anyone who may be of
assistance.  Thank you.

-kam

ps. my employer, Pure Software, Inc, has nothing to do with this message
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. World Journal reported our protest compaign on the CNN incident ...... 153
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 7/27's NYC edition of the World Journal, it reported the misleading 
Moneyline program and the massive protest compaign from Chinese communities.
It said hundreds of protesting calls and faxes flooded the headquarters of
CNN and Moneyline Division. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Mr. Huang Lin's letter to Ms. Connie Chung ........................... 162
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Lin Huang
National Coordinator
CBS Incident Committee
3044 Albany Crescent 1G
Bronx, NY 10463
(718)-548-9114
July 28, 1994

Ms. Connie Chung
CBS News
524 West 57th St. 
New York, NY 10019

Dear Ms. Connie Chung,

We do not need to recall the painful memories of your news report 
aired on May 19, 1994, about the ordinary Chinese like us being 
potential Chinese spies in the future. We have noticed that you 
have expressed your regret for the fact that your report has hurt 
your compatriots. We also understand, as you have openly admitted 
in your interviews with other news media, that your programs are 
"rating driven" instead of "journalism driven".

However, expressing your feelings on Chinese news media can NOT 
erase the negative impact on the American general public of your 
May 19th report, about the alleged evil plot by your honest and 
decent fellow compatriots "to steal America's military and 
technological secrets", "a few years down the road".

As a renowned and highly admired journalist, you must realize 
that not only have the conclusions of your report been far 
fetched, but also it contained little truth and were of no news 
value. To give one example, your interviewee, Mr. Eftimiades, 
does not claim, and has been denied, to represent the American 
intelligence agencies. Even those personal opinions were 
unchallenged in your report.

We are hereby sending you a copy of our letter addressed to Mr. 
Lane Venardos, which has analyzed the major aspects of your 
report in detail. We do hope that you realize how absurd your 
allegations are, how profoundly our feelings have been hurt and 
how serious the damages can be. 

We have no intention to make this dispute personal, but we do 
wish that you do not make us your personal enemies. We sincerely 
hope that you will be courageous enough to lead the CBS news crew 
to make the American public, outside the limited circle of the 
Chinese-American community, aware of your regrets, of the wrong 
information you have delivered and the wrong impressions your 
program may have generated. As a Chinese-American grew up in 
fifties and sixties, you know better than any of us that it is 
very difficult to live in a environment where a Chinese-American 
is treated unfairly, and anyone with consciousness should be 
careful not to create obstacles to endanger and jeopardize the 
daily life of a minority like Chinese-American, who is already 
subject to many biased and ill-intended accusations and blames.

The public has the right to know the truth, and we have the right 
to be cleared from any images of spies next door that your 
program has created. We will not tolerate any accusations and 
unsubstantiated reports which may stir up anti-Chinese sentiment 
in this country. From now on, the Chinese community will be 
paying close attention to the news media to ensure fairness and 
accuracy. We will fight any biased or racist allegations. An 
open-aired apology and clarification of facts followed by 
balanced reports on the CBS Evening News will be very helpful on 
this regard.

Sincerely Yours

Mr. Huang Lin
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Mr. Huang Lin's Complain Letter to Mr. Charles Rivera ................ 236
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Lin Huang
National Coordinator
CBS Incident Committee
3044 Albany Crescent 1G
Bronx, NY 10463
(718)-548-9114
hua7291@med2s0.engr.ccny.cuny.
edu
July 29, 1994

Charles Rivera
Director of Public Affairs
US Commission on Civil Rights
624 Ninth Street NW
Room 737
Washington, DC  20425
fax: 202-376-8315

Honorable Charles Rivera,

It has been brought to my attention that you are seeking 
individuals who have been on either sides in the process of 
visa application from the Chinese government, namely those 
who have been questioned by the so called Chinese Ministry 
of State Security or similar agencies, and especially those 
who have been in a position such as an immigration officer 
to ask such or similar questions, in an attempt to 
investigate the unfortunate CBS Evening News report of May 
19, 1994 about potential Chinese spies. As the National 
Coordinator of the CBS Incident Committee, a nationwide 
assembly of Chinese students and scholars who have joined to 
protest the CBS Evening News' May 19th broadcast, I hereby 
offer my help to you regarding the proposed investigations.

Our CBS Incident Committee was established on May 28, 1994, 
shortly after the CBS broadcast. We now have roughly one 
hundred committee members and coordinators, and a pool of 
thousands volunteers nationwide, coordinating activities 
provoked by this unfortunate incident. Our research team has 
located numerous original documents and conducted rigorous 
case studies on the alleged spy report. Our research 
findings reveal that, the CBS Evening News made its story 
solely on one book, and never communicated with Defense 
Intelligence Agency in this regard (otherwise CBS would 
never have claimed that their information came from Defense 
Information Agency, a nonexistent entity in the U.S.). Even 
though, many facts were distorted and manipulated to create 
shocking effects. Furthermore, the original book, which was 
written by a current employee of Defense Intelligence 
Agency, had distorted and manipulated the original documents 
to make selling points of his book. For example, one of the 
main supporting evidence that China operates the largest 
espionage network in the U.S. was the scale of illegal 
export involving China, which, as claimed at the rate of one 
in every eight cases. The fact is, although as reported in 
L.A.Times, exporting business with China had been under 
strictly scrutiny that 50% of the illegal export cases 
investigated on west coast involves China, however, most of  
those investigations found nothing wrong at all. To make up 
the "one in eight cases", the author compounded illegal 
exports to Hong Kong, Taiwan as the cases to mainland China. 
The actual illegal export involving China, according to the 
Justice Department and Commerce Department, is only 3%, 
comparable to that of many Western allies. Another example 
is, the author of the spy book claimed that, numerous 
Chinese spies had identified themselves to the senior 
officers of Independent Federation of Chinese Students and 
Scholars (IFCSS) shortly after pre-democracy movement. Based 
on some guess work, the author came up with the number of 
hundreds of active agents operating in the U.S. By 
contacting the current senior officer of IFCSS, we found 
nothing was substantiated so far. However, the guess work 
was used anyway to support the "largest spy network" fairy 
tale.

As a Chinese-American minority, we know better than any one 
else that it is very difficult to live in an environment 
where a Chinese-American is treated unfairly, who is already 
subject to many biased and ill-intended accusations and 
blames. We believe that this broadcast implants a stereotype 
of Chinese Americans as being carefully and devious, and may 
lead to unfair discrimination of Chinese Americans in the 
American workplace and in society. Furthermore, this 
unbalanced reporting on CBS may encourage the anti-immigrant 
sentiments that pervade the country. This will have a huge 
effect not only on immigrants, but also on all Asian 
American, Since most Americans cannot distinguish Chinese 
American from other Asian Americans and cannot distinguish 
American born Chinese from immigrants.

As the National Coordinator representing thousands of 
ordinary Chinese-Americans, I hereby urge the Civil Rights 
Commission to take serious step to look into this case thus 
to prevent such kind of unfair and biased report being aired 
again in the future.

Sincerely Yours,

Mr. Huang Lin


Enclosure:      Our Protest letter to CBS VP Lane Venardos, 
                signed by over 6000+ individuals across the continent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Mr. Huang Lin's protest letter to CNN Business News and Moneyline .... 342
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Addressed to Mr. Casey Wian, Mr. Lou Dobbs and Mr. Eric Gonon]

    We appreciate your acknowledgement in July 20's Moneyline in responding to 
the protest from the Chinese American community.  You have shown that you
care about your viewers, care about fairness, accuracy and credibility in your
news reports.  However, we noted that there were still some far-fetched data 
and improper innuendos in the program.

    As stated in our previous letter, the inaccurate and groundless allegation
that as much as 20 billion dollars from the US taxpayers may have been spent
on the illegal Chinese immigrants every year could cause, and may already
have generated resentments in the American public to the Chinese American
community around the country.  We are extremely concerned about the impact
of Monday's report and the repeatedly running promotion last weekend.

    According to the official US government documents, which are based on
scientific surveys and statistics, the Chinese illegal immigrants is less than
0.8% of the total illegal immigrant population [*].  It is much lower than
many other ethnic groups.  As a demonstrative example, in New York City which 
draws more than half of the illegal Chinese immigrants in the country, Chinese 
illegal immigrants ranked only 13th among other ethnic groups, lower than 
those from some developed countries [**].  The extremely questionable 10% 
figure quoted by  Mr. Wian, which amounts to hundreds of thousands, is 
from private sources, which is to be validated for its accuracy and
credibility.  A balanced report should at least quote the official US 
government statistics.

    Even if we grant full credit to the investigative capability of your 
private sources, Mr. Williard Myers, who was the major interviewee in your
program and your major source, an expert on Chinese illegal immigrants,
authorized us to make the following statement:

    "Other than direct expenses of enforcing the law, the Chinese who has
entered the US by irregular means do not cost a penny from the US government
and American taxpayers". 

    To the contrary, Mr. Myers pointed out, in his communication with us, that
the chinese illegal immigrants make positive contributions to the US economy 
and American society by working in Chinese owned businesses, which has been
expanding by the extra source of labor. To express it explicitly, they do NOT
take other Americans' job away!  Furthermore,  contrary to the impression 
caused by other sectors of illegal immigrant population, the Chinese illegal 
immigrants do not rely on social welfare provided by the US government.

    Therefore the report is irrelevant to Moneyline because the financial
aspect of the report is totally groundless and a pure extravaganza. The
Chinese American community, as part of the people of this nation, shares
the anxiety of most Americans about the illegal immigrant problem and welcomes 
a balanced report which covers not only the Haitians, the Mexicans and the
Chinese, but also the illegal immigrants from other countries.  However, 
singling out the Chinese as scapegoats just because the images of the boat 
people are striking and "news worthy" seems to have left the high standard 
of journalism, which CNN has always held, behind.  This will not contribute 
to the racial harmony all of us are striving for in this great nation.

    Based on the forecited facts, we believe that it is fair for us to ask 
you to acknowledge on Moneyline that your program and the ongoing promotion 
have created a wrong impression, that is, the illegal Chinese immigrants are
coming to America taking bread and butter away from our dining tables!

    The public has the right to know the truth, and the Chinese Americans,
who are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from last few hundred years
just like most people in our country,  have the right to be cleared from
images of any evil intent.  We cannot tolerate any accusations and reports
which may stir up anti-Chinese sentiment, and we are paying attention to the
media to assure fairness and accuracy, and to fight any racist allegations.
An apology and clarification of facts will be very helpful on this regard.

    Thank you for your precious time and attention to the matter.

   [Signed]

[*]   See reports on Los Angels Times, Nov. 26, 1993.

  Illegal immigrants population
  1992 National total: 3,217,800

  Region/country                      U.S. Total
 -North and Central American         2,096,300

 -Asia                                 339,400
       Philippines                     101,500
       other Asian                      99,300
       Iran                             37,400
       India                            30,400
       Israel                           28,000
       China                            24,200
       Lebanon                          18,600

 -Europe                               316,600
 -South America                        204,000
 -Africa                               124,000
 -Oceania                               16,300
 -Stateless/unknown                    121,200
    
[**]  See reports on New York TImes, Sep. 2, 1993.

  Largest Illegal Alien Groups in New York
 (Sources:  INS; NY City Dept. of City Planning)

  Ecuador                 27,100
  Italy                   26,800
  Poland                  25,800
  Dominican Republic      25,600
  Colombia                24,500
  Haiti                   21,400
  Jamaica                 21,200
  Trinidad and Tobago     20,500
  Ireland                 16,900
  El Salvador             15,300
  Pakistan                14,600
  Israel                  13,500
  China                   12,700
  ...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. A follow-up letter to CNN Moneyline (drafted by Ray Wang) ............ 459
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir/Madam:

        We watched your Moneyline's report on illegal Chinese immigration 
issue on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We noticed that you modified your Wednesday's
report in an attempt to address the whole picture of illegal immigration,
and you took out the sentence that stated Chinese illegal immigration costed
US $15 billion.  We appreciate your courage and willingness in trying to
restore the truth.  We praise your display of responsible journalism.
We view your attempt as a positive first step.

        However, after we watched your modified version, we are still 
concerned with several points you failed to address in that report. 

        A.  Do you stand by your claim that Chinese illegal immigrants
cost US $15 billion?  It is not enough to simply omit it, especially
after you have aired it in Tuesday's program.  We are deeply concerned
with the negative impact that was caused by the original program and 
promotion.  We expect you, as a responsible network, to make a public
acknowledgement of the mistake you made in the original report and to
apologize to the Chinese community in the US.

        B.  In your Wednesday's program, you claimed that there were 600,000
illegal Chinese immigrants in the United States.  According to a report
in New York Times, '....' (Please fill in the blank here, I lost the 
mail.)  We are deeply disturbed by your motivation to signal out an ethnic
group that has less than 1% of the total illegal immigrants as a major
problem.

        We believe that your failure to address the above issues have cost 
unjustified damage towards the members of Chinese community in the United
States.   We expect you to take the next step, show your determination
to bring to whole truth to the public.

        Thank you for your concern.  We are looking forward to your response.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%   Editor of CBS Incident Committee: Miao Ye               %
%                                     Xiangdong Shi         %
%   Sign on/off at listserv@ifcss.org, with mailbody as:    %
%   sub fcbs-l Firstname Lastname, or signoff fcbs-l        %
%   Post at fcbs-l@ifcss.org                                %
%   Anonymous ftp at  ifcss.org:/ifcss/Legal/cbs            %
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%