China Demands CNN Offer Sincere Apology After These Comments:

BEIJING (Reuters) - China lodged a formal complaint against U.S. television network CNN and said it should make a sincere apology for what it called a vicious attack by one of its commentators who labeled Chinese as "goons" and its products "junk".

CNN responded to China's initial criticism by saying there had been no intent to cause offence and that it "would apologize to anyone who has interpreted the comments in this way". It said commentator Jack Cafferty was offering a "strongly held" opinion of the Chinese government, not the people.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Thursday that was not enough.

"Their statement not only did not make a sincere apology, but also took aim at the Chinese government, attempting to sow discord in the relationship between the Chinese people and the Chinese government," Jiang said.

I'm no fan of Jack Cafferty but I have to stand with him here. The man has the right to say whatever he wants about China and the fact that they are bullying CNN into yet another apology is out of line. This all started with a photo posted on CNN.com that showed Chinese police beating Tibetans. The photo didn't show the pro-Tibet protesters throwing stones in the distance because CNN cropped them out. But does China have editorial control over CNN or their website? No. Apparently, they would like to as they have summoned CNN's Beijing Chief to talk about the matter.

In the wake of all this nonsense, Cafferty is receiving death threats on a daily basis. I'm hearing reports of CNN.com being unaccessible in several cities in China. There is even some talk that the satellite feed for the network is now being blocked. The question is, will CNN bow down to the mighty red China or will they stand by free speech and risk being blocked, both on the web and the air, in the country?