Apology demanded from NY Post to Chinese Americans

(Updated: This story has been updated to add the additional call from the Committee of 100 for a formal apology).

Two New York state elected officials are demanding that the New York Post apologize for incorrectly reporting the man who shot former President Trump and killed an innocent bystander was Chinese.

“The erroneous report has caused significant distress within the Chinese American community, jeopardizing the safety and reputation of Chinese Americans,” said New York State Senator Iwen Chu. “I call on the New York Post to issue a formal and public apology to the Chinese American community.”

This morning, the Committee of 100, an organization comprised of top Chinese American leaders, released a public letter also calling for an apology.

“It is disheartening to see that in a time when we should be fostering unity and understanding, your publication has allowed false and divisive remarks to be disseminated to the public,” the letter to New York Post executive editor Keith Pool reads. The Chinese community, like all communities, deserves respect and fair representation in the media. It is the responsibility of reputable media outlets like yours to uphold standards of accuracy, integrity and respect.”

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The Committee of 100 called for stricter editorial guidelines to prevent such mistakes from occurring again.

According to blogger Jeff Yang who has written for various publications including the Wall Street Journal and CNN, the Post article stated “that the shooter was a “Chinese man” then replaced it with a version that the shooter was “identified only as a white male” shortly thereafter — WITHOUT flagging the correction.”

New York State Assemblywoman Grace Lee also called for an apology, saying “reckless false reporting like this perpetuates hate and violence against Asians. NY Post must apologize for this error,” she said on social media.

The Asian American community still stings from the spike in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic when many Chinese and Asian Americans were falsely blamed for spreading the coronavirus. That hatred continues today with 32% of Asian Americans saying they were called a slur in the past 12 months and 29% saying they were harassed or verbally abused, a report based on surveys with 6,272 Americans released by The Asian American Foundation in May said. 41% believe they will be a victim of a physical attack.

“Accurate and responsible reporting is crucial, especially in sensitive cases that can have profound impacts on individuals and communities…We will not tolerate any words or actions that foster discrimination and fear,” said Chu.

The shooter has been identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old White man. Trump was grazed in the ear by shots fired by Crooks using an AR-15. Volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, died in the shooting and two others were critically wounded.

AsAmNews has reached out to the New York Post newsroom for comment. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

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