Subject: CSS Today (941020): New Development of the CBS Incident

From: hq (IFCSS Headquarter)
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 94 00:39:58 CDT

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Press Desk <[email-masked]>             October 20, 1994           No.94003
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IN THIS ISSUE:                                                   No of Lines
============================================================================
              *** _____ Electronic Press Conference _____ *** 
1. IFCSS HQ NR #6015: New Development on the CBS Incident ............... 81

              *** __________ In the Community  __________ *** 
2. CBS Incident Committee's Special Report of Progress ................. 122
============================================================================
 
================= <<<<< Electronic Press Conference >>>>> ==================
1. IFCSS HQ NR #6015: New Development on the CBS Incident ............... 81
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>From: IFCSS HQ <[email-masked]> 10/17/94
 
Dear Chinese students and scholars,

     The fight against the CBS News' "Eye on America" program on May 19, 1994, 
has been going on for more than five months now.  Many may have forgotten 
it, with so many things happening in the world.  However, the members of 
the CBS Incident Committee (CBSIC) have not given up.  They have devoted 
their precious time and scarce resources persistently in reaching out to 
other Chinese and Asian American organizations, civil rights organizations 
and government agencies in order to get our voice heard, and at the same 
time conducting a solid research to check out the facts from the first-hand 
data published by the US Government and from other sources.  Our community 
did not swallowed the humiliation that the May 19 CBS program had thrown 
on us this time and has not been sitting idle ever since.  Thousands of 
protest letters have been sent to CBS News.  Many people have donated money 
to support the work of CBSIC.  Rarely before have we ever seen such a 
unified effort to protect our own community.

     Now a new stage has been reached.  On Tuesday, October 18, 1994,
representatives of Chinese community were invited to a luncheon with the
top management and the product team of the CBS News at the CBS News
Headquarters in New York City.  The participants representing the Chinese
community included:

     Mr Huang Lin, National Coordinator of CBSIC (CUNY)
     Mr Xiao Dong, Research Coordinator of CBSIC (Florida State U) 
     Mr Wang Ray, Spokesperson of CBSIC (SUNY Binghamton)
     Ms Lu Shuping, the NYC coordinator of CBSIC (NYU)
     Ms Li Yingying, Administrator Assistant (MIT GSC)
     Ms Ginny Gong, National President, Organization of Chinese Americans
     Mr Kung-Lee Wong, Executive Director, Committe of 100
     Ms Sylvia Chin, President of the New York Chapter of APABA
                     (Asian Pacific American Bar Association)
     Mr Luo Ning, President, IFCSS 

The hosts included:

     Mr Eric W. Ober, President, CBS News
     Mr Lane Venardos, Vice President, Hard News and Special Events
     Ms Connie Chung, Anchor
     Mr Tom Anderson, Program Producer
     Mr Allen Alter, Foreign Editor
     and several others (including one attorney)

     Mr. Ober opened the exchange with apologizing that the program had
hurt the feeling of so many people of the Chinese community.  The
representatives of the Chinese community organizations stated our position
and demanded open-air as well as written apologies by CBS News.  The
exchanges between the both sides were sometimes quite fierce (more details
of the meeting will be coming out in our later reports).  In the end, Mr.
Ober said that the meeting had given CBS News an opportunity to learn our
point of view and "sensitized" their understanding about our feelings on
such issues.  He promised that he would get back to us soon.  

     Today, Mr. Ober sent a letter to Ms. Ginny Gong, the spokesperson of
the groups present in the Tuesday meeting.  The letter says:

     "We are fully aware that the vast majority of Chinese, Chinese
Americans, and other Asian Americans are exactly what they seem to be:
legitimate, law-abiding students, visitors, immigrants and citizens, both
long and short-term.  If our story did not convey that awareness, we fully
apologize."

     "On this Friday's edition of The CBS Evening News, we will make a very
serious effort to set the record straight.  I hope you will be watching and
will alert other members of the group that attended today's luncheon and
the larger constituency they represent."

     We do not know what will be coming out tomorrow.  We reserve our
rights for taking further actions pending upon the CBS News show tomorrow. 
We urge the members of CSS community to watch the CBS Evening News tomorrow
night and feed back your impression to us as soon as possible.

     No matter what will be the result, we Chinese in this country have
come a long way.  We do not silence ourselves any more.  We stick all
together and coordinate our actions well.  And we are exploring our way to
enter the mainstream society, not only as individuals, but also as a
community.  In striving for a more prosperous and strong community, in
protecting our civil rights against the imminent tides of anti-immigrant
prejudices and sentiments, we could learn a lot from this episode of the
CBS Incident.

Luo Ning
President, IFCSS
Oct. 20, 1994
======================= <<<<< In the Community >>>>> =======================
2. CBS Incident Committee's Special Report of Progress ................. 122
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>From: Mi Mi <[email-masked]>

                                  Lin Huang
                                  Dong Xiao
                                  Ray Wang
                                  Shuping Lu
                                  Yingying Li
                                  Special Delegation
                                  From CBS Incident
                                  Committee to CBS
                                  Luncheon of communication

Dear Fellow Chinese:

On May 19th, CBS aired that notorious news segment which has met
with the strongest protest from our and other Asian communities.
Tens of thousands of letters, faxes and phone calls poured in to
voice one message --we, the Chinese, in this land enjoy just as
much as civil rights as any other ethnic groups and gone are the
days when anyone in this country thinks this group can be bullied
or humiliated. It was under such circumstances, CBS Incident
Committee came into being. It consists of 80 core members and
more than 8,000 followers. The committee over a period of five
months has coordinated a protest movement with a international
scope, contacted relevant government agencies, media, civil
rights groups and conducted thorough research on the so-called
"spy myth." There were moments of frustration and there were
moments of doubts. But what keeps firing us up and what keeps us
going is the sense of support we receive from you all. We know
that you are all behind us and with perseverance we, together,
can make a difference.

WE HAVE!!!

On October 18th, as a special delegation, we went to the CBS
headquarters and forcefully voiced our anger and demand. And the
president of CBS News apologized for our hurt feelings and today
he told us again in writing and promised on October 21st CBS
Evening News, "a very serious effort to set the record straight."
Even though we have yet to see what they will say in the program,
we believe we have already scored a major victory against a media
giant. In the tele-press-conference on October 20th, our victory
was viewed as the unprecedented event in the history of Chinese
in the United States for justice, and equality. We should be
proud of our achievement! WE the Chinese people in the United
States!

We want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been
actively involved in this arduous fight for justice and dignity,
thank those who have either contributed financially or those who
volunteered their time or work in any stage of our work.

Dear fellow Chinese, even though our fight with CBS might be
drawing to a close, we believe our fight for equality in this
country has barely started. We hope we can keep our fighting
spirits alive and we hope we will continue to receive your
support. We know together we can make a difference.

Lin Huang
Dong Xiao
Ray Wang
Shuping Lu
Yinying Li and all the
Members of CBS Incident Committee
=================================================================
Attached:  The letter of CBS News' President
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CBS
NEWS
A Division of CBS Inc.,
New York, NY 10018
(212)876-8581
Eric W. Ober
President
October 20, 1994

Dear Ms. Gong:

This letter is being written as we are still fresh from Tuesday's
luncheon here as CBS, I am speaking for all the people from CBS
News who attended the gathering when I say that we were impressed
by the depth of the genuine feelings expressed by all of you.

We also now appreciate how it is possible to misconstrue or
misinterpret the report on efforts by the Chinese government to
insinuate spies into the United States. We appreciated how
members of the Chinese community felt they were unfairly singled
out.

We are fully aware that the vast majority of Chinese, Chinese
Americans, and other Asian Americans are exactly what they seem
to be: legitimate, law-abiding students, visitors, immigrants and
citizens, both long and short-term. If our story did not convey
that awareness, we fully apologize.

After a series of discussions with the people at CBS News who
were involved in the broadcast and its preparation, we have
decided on a course of action.

On this Friday's edition of The CBS Evening News, we will make a
very serious effort to set the record straight. I hope you will
be watching and will alert other members of the group that
attended today's luncheon and the larger constituency they
represent.

I believe the dialogue we established will go a long way to re-
establishing the historically strong relationship between the
Chinese and Chinese American communities and CBS News. It is a
relationship of which we are quite proud in the decades of
service we believe we have performed informing America about
developments in this country and all over the world.

Sincerely,
Eric Ober

Ms. Ginny Gong
National President
Organization of Chinese Americans, Inc.
1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 707
Washington, D.C. 20036

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