Global flying dog

环球飞狗 (huán qiú fēi gǒu): Global flying dog

In January 2013, Guangdong propaganda authorities forced Southern Weekly to run a commentary glorifying the Chinese Communist Party in place of the paper's annual New Year editorial, which had been a call for greater implementation of the country's constitution. This set off a weeklong stand-off with local propaganda officials, which included street protests, a staff strike, and weibo battles. While the backlash against the propaganda authority’s actions was taking place, the Global Times issued a strongly-worded editorial condemning the Southern Weekly.

Shortly thereafter, Nandu.com, a sister company of the Southern Weekend posted a series of old pictures under the odd heading, “Amazing Images of Global Dogs Catching Frisbees.” The pictures had been posted earlier in 2012 and the reposting of these pictures amidst the controversy was hardly accidental—the editor of the Global Times is sometimes referred to as Frisbee Hu for his eagerness to follow the Party line no matter how difficult it is to catch. In addition, the Global Times had also run an editorial in February 2012 entitled, “The Media Should be the Watchdog of the Country’s Interests,” which added to the ironic humor of frisbee-dog post. The subtle symbolism was not lost on netizens who were greatly amused by the article and saw it as a clear jab at the Global Times.

Nandu.com also ran images of 50 cent denominations in various countries hinting that the editors of the Global Times were members of the fifty cent party and were not real journalists.