Core tip: Deng Lie, one of the drivers who was rescued during the snowstorm and received aid, said in an interview with a reporter yesterday, "We hope that the Dialogue program and its writer-director can publicly apologize." He also explained that he did not participate in the Dialogue program because taking the train to Beijing would have taken too long, and at the time, it was already too late. Additionally, the staff of the Dialogue program said that due to insufficient funds, they could not arrange for him to fly.
Xinhua News Agency reported on April 4th: "We hope that the Dialogue program and its writer-director can publicly apologize," said Deng Lie, one of the drivers who received assistance, in an interview with our reporter yesterday afternoon. He expressed his expectation that CCTV's Dialogue program would respond to their demands.
He also explained that the reason he did not participate in the Dialogue program was because taking the train to Beijing would have taken too long, and at the time, it was already too late. Furthermore, the staff of the Dialogue program said that due to insufficient funds, they could not arrange for him to fly.
Not enough time to take the train
Deng Lie introduced to the Southern Metropolitan Daily reporter that they not only provided Liu Jigui with a certain amount of compensation but also, after participating in Hunan TV's Lantern Festival Evening Gala later, entrusted the local government of Hengyang to deliver a banner expressing gratitude to Liu Jigui.
He explained that he did not go to participate in the Dialogue program because there was not enough time to take the train, and the other party was unwilling to cover the cost of the plane ticket. Deng Lie said that when CCTV invited him to participate in the program, they did not promise to reimburse the airfare as Haiyang had claimed. According to his recollection, he first received an invitation call from the Dialogue program two days before the recording - on March 23rd. "It was Sunday, and I was very busy, so I asked them to call me the next day. The next day at noon, they called again asking me to take the train. I said that it might be too late, so I asked if I could take the plane. After consulting with their leader, they said that due to insufficient funds, I decided not to go."
Considering suing if necessary
The previous post by Haiyang, the author of the CCTV director's notes, in the post titled "Do the 44 rescued Hubei people really not understand gratitude?" corroborated Deng Lie's account. At the time, he posted under the username cctvhy: "For every one of these 44 people willing to come to the scene, the Dialogue program expressed willingness to reimburse round-trip transportation costs and accommodation and food expenses in Beijing. Especially for the two key invitees - the woman holding the child and the injured driver, we even proposed to reimburse their airfare to save their time."
The injured driver was Liu Guangqian, while Deng Lie was not a "key invitee" and thus did not have his airfare reimbursed. In fact, Liu Jigui, the rescuer, also took the train when returning home from Beijing.
On online forums such as Tianya and Songzi People Forum, many netizens found the use of the term "Hubei people" in the post title unacceptable. Some netizens pointed out that without detailed investigation, the staff of the Dialogue program made moral judgments too easily, which was highly inappropriate. Moreover, the description used by the CCTV director's notes, "44 Hubei people who were rescued," raised suspicions of regional discrimination.
The super moderator "Deep Blue" of the Songzi People Forum believed that this was not solely the responsibility of the author of the director's notes. He said that local netizens hoped that the Dialogue program could make a public apology.
Deng Lie also indicated that he even considered filing a lawsuit if necessary. "It is not for us 44 individuals; it is for all Hubei people. The reason is that they publicly accused us of lacking morality." However, he also stated that before taking legal action, "Of course, we can accept their apology." Regarding the method of apology, he did not make any specific requests. "A public expression of apology through the internet or media would suffice."
Regarding this matter, the reporter repeatedly called Haiyang yesterday evening, but the phone remained unanswered. Host Chen Weihong refused to comment on the issue.
Southern Metropolitan Daily (Source: Xinhua News Agency, Author: Zhang Dongfeng)