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CNN Again! Poll on Taiwan leader backfires

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-21 22:48

BEIJING: An online poll by the US cable TV network CNN to query whether the Taiwan leader should step down after the devastating typhoon has sparked discontent among netizens on the Chinese mainland and Taiwan media.

Some netizens on the mainland said CNN had overdone its work and the poll interfered in Taiwan's internal affairs.

A netizen Lelexiaopang said on China.com that "CNN's behavior was very weird".

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"After Ma Ying-jeou had an interview with CNN, CNN introduced the poll online," said Lelexiaopang. "Step down or not, didn't CNN, as a foreign media institution, show too much concern?"

CNN's online poll showed on Sunday that 82 percent of the respondents wanted Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou to step down for being too slow in reacting to Typhoon Morakot. CNN has closed the poll after some Taiwanese netizens protested.

A blogger Song Qiang said on sohu.com, "CNN made use of the disaster to wage a sneak-raid on Ma, and its power is nothing less than Typhoon Morakot."

Major Taiwan-based media institutions also voiced discontent over the poll.

The United Daily News reported Wednesday that the Ma authority should review its performance in the typhoon as it was criticized by media groups from both inside and outside Taiwan, but CNN overdid its work by launching the online poll.

The newspaper said CNN should say sorry to Taiwanese people for the poll.

Morakot was the worst typhoon to have hit Taiwan in nearly five decades, wreaking havoc across the central and southern regions. The island reported a death toll of 153 as of 1 p.m. Friday. And another 464 people were missing.