A reporter of Chinese descent is speaking out, weeks after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen dismissed her article on his company, Pillen Family Farms, because “the author is from Communist China.”
Yanqi Xu, 27, who is an immigrant from China and reports for the independent outlet Flatwater Free Press, told NBC News that Pillen’s comments were a form of “bias.” Pillen, a Republican, had made the remarks on Omaha radio station KFAB in September, after he was asked to respond to her article that found high levels of nitrate on his hog farms.
“Number 1, I didn’t read it. And I won’t,” Pillen said on the air about Xu’s article. “Number 2, all you got to do is look at the author. The author is from Communist China. What more do you need to know?”
This week — with Xu’s blessing and after consulting with immigration lawyers to ensure her visa status wouldn’t be compromised — Matt Wynn, executive director of the Nebraska Journalism Trust, which launched the Flatwater Free Press, published a column in her defense.
“Yanqi has been in the United States since 2017. … This, she said, is the first time anyone has written her off based on her origin. And it was broadcast, over the air, by the governor of Nebraska,” Wynn wrote. “As an employer, that infuriates me. As a believer in democracy and a free press, it saddens me. As a Nebraskan, it embarrasses me.”
Pillen’s office did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Xu, who said she was grateful that her employer stood with her, added that Pillen’s words potentially fit into a narrative of “othering people of Chinese descent.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around this,” she said. “I can definitely see the bias there.”
While she needed time to digest the comments, she said that as a journalist, she wanted to speak out to hold the governor accountable.
“I think it’s important to speak up and it can be really, really hard at first because in some ways, it made you…
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