Reporter wins support after Nebraska governor dismissed story because the journalist is Chinese

Advocates and Nebraska lawmakers are defending a reporter after Gov. Jim Pillen said her story about environmental concerns at his farms wasn’t worth discussing because the reporter was from “communist China.”

The Asian American Journalists Association, the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and some state lawmakers have condemned Pillen and demanded that he apologize to Flatwater Free Press reporter Yanqi Xu.

The comments, which received a flood of publicity this week when the online media organization’s executive director wrote a scathing column, is just the latest in the nation in which an elected official has personally attacked a reporter. The scrutiny the story is getting also comes amid a wave of pandemic-driven anti-Asian racism and new laws restricting foreign ownership of farmland.