A newsroom in Nebraska said it was infuriated after the state’s governor dismissed a critical news article about his business because, he said, the reporter behind it was from “communist China.”
Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has faced fierce criticism for the comment after the reporter, Yanqi Xu, published an investigation last month for the Flatwater Free Press detailing high nitrate levels at his hog farms. Xu sifted through government records that found 16 of Pillen’s farms had nitrate levels five times higher than is considered safe to drink.
Pillen was asked about the article on Nebraska radio several days later, where he discounted the story and criticized Xu’s nationality.
“No. 1, I didn’t read it. And I won’t,” Pillen said at the time. “No. 2, all you got to do is look at the author. The author is from communist China. What more do you need to know?”
Xu grew up in Guangzhou, China, and studied English and journalism in Beijing. She moved to America and earned a master’s degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia, later reporting at several media outlets. She has worked at Flatwater Free Press for two years, quickly becoming “a key reporter — for us and for Nebraska,” the website said.
“She’s whip smart. She’s pit bull stubborn. She’s a courageous reporter, a remarkable reporter,” Matt Wynn, the outlet’s executive director, wrote in a column this week. “She’s remarkable, period.”
He added the Free Press had taken its time to respond to the governor’s comments as Xu is in the United States on a visa reserved for those with “extraordinary ability.” Wynn said he wanted to consult with immigration attorneys to avoid risking her visa status.
In an interview, Xu told The New York Times she was “shocked and saddened” by the governor’s comments.
“Nebraskans deserve to know this,” she told the newspaper. “The comment was about me, but it was, you know — it was more than just me. …I just felt that it was the right thing to do.”
The Asian American Journalists Association gave its “unwavering” support to Xu and her publication this week, noting the governor’s comments were part of a “troubling trend in anti-Asian discrimination, xenophobia and violence in recent years.”
Wynn went on to say the story would have been different if Pillen had responded to Xu’s reporting, but he declined all opportunities to do so.
“Yanqi has been in the United States since 2017. She has lived in four states and Washington, D.C. This, she said, is the first time anyone has written her off based on her origin,” Wynn went on. “And it was broadcast, over the air, by the governor of Nebraska. As an employer, that infuriates me. As a believer in democracy and a free press, it saddens me.”
Wynn added, “As a Nebraskan, it embarrasses me.”