CNN executives summoned to Beijing after failure to aplogise

A worrying develop- ment: Beijing- based executives from CNN were called to a meeting at the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday in the wake of the ongoing debacle that has followed remarks by opinionated contributor Jack Cafferty.
Cafferty last week referred to the Chinese government as 'goons and thugs', which hasn't gone down terribly well here. See previous posts for more on how the Chinese media has reacted.
At this point I'd be quite concerned if I worked for CNN, especially if I were Chinese.
Whatever about forum members and bloggers (who are just people with nothing better than do but spout on about the topic du jour) it is a little concerning that the political establishment would summon a foreign news organisation to answer for its content.
Perhaps it's just as worrying that such a powerful news organisation felt they had to attend.
According to the government news agency, Xinhua, CNN were told to apologise for 'slander', although if they had indeed groveled that probably would have been mentioned in the official statement from Xinhua.
Journalists don't have the privilege to "rail against anybody or any government", the government said.
Really? I thought railing against governments - especially your own - was a basic function of journalism. My mistake.
This explains the absence of criticism on CCTV.
CNN had previously moved to clarify the issue with the usual line about the views of their contributors not representing the organisation yadda yadda. They also apologised to anyone who interpreted the comments as a slight on Chinese people.
Of course, CNN's statement didn't cut it in Beijing, with some continuing to accuse the network of racism.
A commentator at People's Daily said Cafferty's words reminded him of the US Chinese Exclusion Act which discriminated against labourers from China.
He must be very, very old. That Act was passed in 1882 (and was abolished in 1943).