Mouse or chicken meat? The APA community says the CW11's reports are sensationalistic.

Mouse or chicken meat? The APA community says the CW11's reports are sensationalistic.

By Lynda Lin, Assistant Editor
Published February 16, 2007

It looked like it had little paws and a tail, but the identity of the piece of mystery food found among a New York patron's order of take-out Chinese food has ignited protests over what Asian Pacific American leaders are calling ethnic stereotyping by a local television news station.

New York's CW11 (WPIX-TV) first reported on the story, "Sickening Surprise," Jan. 29 during its 10 p.m. news broadcast with footage of reporter Chris Glorioso confronting an employee of the New Food King restaurant in Canarasie, a neighborhood in the Eastern portion of the Brooklyn borough. A patron had ordered chicken and broccoli, but was so convinced a piece of her "chicken" was a "mouse" that she checked herself into the hospital and contacted the CW11 News where she appeared on-air to say she would "never eat Chinese food again."

"The news piece was conducted from a prejudiced, biased and unethical standpoint. I see it as an insult to American justice that says everyone is innocent until proven guilty," said Steven Wong, 52, a community activist and president of the Chinese Restaurant Alliance.

The APA community was enraged over the story's depiction of Chinese restaurants and the news piece's use of "fried mice" as a word play on "white rice."

This isn't the first time the news station has gotten in trouble with the APA community. In November 2001, the CW11 accused a Korean restaurant in Flushing of selling dog, but the story was later unsubstantiated.

The APA restaurant community has continued to suffer racial discrimination because of that 2001 story and this more recent story has fueled the fire, said Wong. The fallout has been felt nationwide. Since the piece aired, Wong said he's heard from restaurant owners from as far as Georgia complaining that people don't want to order chicken with rice anymore.

In the report, Glorioso also asked several customers outside the restaurant what the morsel in question looked like and all responded that it was a deep-fried mouse. CW11 aired a follow-up report Jan. 31 with a biologist from Ameritech Laboratories confirming the piece in question was "likely a mouse or rat."

But relying on simple observation is faulty and renders a false indictment on the restaurant and other Chinese restaurants, said APA leaders, including Councilman John Liu who called the follow-up piece a "cover up."

"The reporter here acted as the judge and jury," said Wong.

Wong joined Liu and 500 other members of the New York APA community Feb. 4 to protest in front of the CW11's Manhattan station. They demanded an apology and called for Glorioso to be fired.

The war of words continued Feb. 8 when Wong and John Yong, the attorney for the owners of the New Food King restaurant held a press conference to announce that a private investigator discovered the Ameritech biologist who conducted the test of the specimen is not licensed - an allegation that the CW11 calls untrue.

In a statement, the CW11 said Ameritech is a reputable laboratory used by many other news stations and media organizations.

"CW11 stands behind the accuracy of this news report, and believes the story provides no basis for legitimate controversy," the news organization said in the statement. "CW11 met with Councilman John Liu and representatives from The Organization of Chinese Americans, who continued to question the intent of our story and the perceived effect on the Asian community. We re-iterated that this was not an ethnic story, but rather the story of a single restaurant within our community that happened to serve a customer a questionable item that was verified as a rodent from a reputable lab. This was a story that addressed a matter of public health and falls within the context of many recent reports about tainted and adulterated food."

John Yong, the attorney for the owner of the New Food King restaurant, called the Ameritech report "bogus" and "not scientific" in a phone interview with the Pacific Citizen. Yong has asked for the piece of food in question to be surrendered to the community for further testing, but has not received a response from the CW11.

Video footage of the CW11 news reports were released online, but at press time YouTube.com had removed the Jan. 31 follow-up report citing a "copyright claim by WPIX, Inc.," but the original report remains online.

Sara Markt, deputy press secretary with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said that in a Feb. 2 inspection of the New Food King, the restaurant passed inspection.

"We found no evidence of vermin infestation," said Markt.

"The news report has destroyed their business," said Yong, who confirmed that legal action would be taken against the news station. "They can't make their mortgage and they can't make rent."

New Food King has thrived for three years, but the business hit rock bottom with the newscast. The restaurant receives 50 or more telephone calls a day from people ordering mice and telling owner You Yong to go back to China.

Still, the doors remain open.

"She's a strong woman. She knows the only way to fight and win is to stay open," said Wong.

The APA community is planning another protest in front of the CW11 station Feb. 26 - this time with thousands of participants expected.