"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner

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Following last week’s New York Times report questioning a November 2011 anectdote about Bo Guagua and a red Ferrari, the Wall Street Journal has now corrected its famous Princelings story. The new lede reads:

One evening early this year, a red Ferrari pulled up outside a popular bar in Beijing, and the son of one of China’s top leaders stepped out, dressed in a tuxedo.

Bo Guagua, 23, had driven with the daughter of the then-U.S. ambassador, Jon Huntsman, from a dinner appointment to the bar.

The correction states:

Bo Guagua and a daughter of Jon Huntsman drove together from a group dinner appointment to a bar in Beijing one evening in 2011. A previous version of this article said the daughter was picked up at the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

The Journal insists Bo did drive a red ferrari that evening, they just got the locale wrong. The New York Times says it never happened. Does anyone know if Bo Guagua has hired public relations representation and has been lobbying for changes in this story or for changes in the story of the sources?

The journalists on both sides of this story are terrific reporters, among the best of the Western press corp here. I am guessing that the Journal team is especially concerned about the impact on any possible prizes for their strong Bo Xilai reporting, and may even believe the New York Times did this intentionally to damage the WSJ’s chance in the prize competitions. I can not even imagine that that was the motivation of the excellent Times reporters, but would not be surprised if the report generated much glee back in New York Times headquarters.

Given the long, rancorous history between Rupert Murdoch-owned media outlets and the New York Times, should we expect some sort of a “counterattack” from the Wall Street Journal? Perhaps they will dig into the rumors going around about imminent changes in the New York Times editorial efforts in China?

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  Given what they have been through, that is difficult to dispute. But there were only a few dozen people watching when the burly men from Mr. Chen’s hometown shoved him into that car in the summer of 2005. If the Chinese security apparatus moves against Mr. Chen now, the whole world will be watching.Philip P. Pan is an assistant foreign editor at The New York Times and the author of “Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China.”
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• Kristol calls Romney weighing in on Chen ‘foolish’ – POLITICO.com
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  This was echoed by Foreign Policy managing editor Blake Hounshell, who tweeted, “Did Romney make a mistake by inserting himself into Chen saga?”

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