Chinese State Media Criticized for Touting Benefits of Smog

For Chinese citizens worried about smog, which has been blanketing major cities and smashing air pollution records recently, China’s state media has some advice: Look on the bright side. State broadcaster CCTV and a Communist Party tabloid, Global Times, yesterday published editorials attempting to put a positive spin on China’s air pollution crisis. The state-run outlets said smog has military benefits because it can interfere with the guidance systems of foreign missiles, as well as personal benefits such as bolstering Chinese citizens’ sense of humor, making them more united, more sober, better informed, and more equal because smog “affected the lungs of both rich and poor,” The Telegraph reports. Internet commenters and other media outlets, including several state-run publications, were outraged. “Is the smog supposed to lift if we laugh about it?” asked the official publication Beijing Business Today. The pro-smog pieces have both been deleted from the publications’ websites.