About William Moss
Trans-Pacific spin doctor. Head of Global Media Relations at TSMC. Occasional writer of humor and PR analysis. This is a personal blog and opinions are my own. More information at “About Imagethief“.
Also on Substack (where full posts live now), Bluesky, the usual places.
Archives
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- June 2024
- April 2023
- March 2021
- February 2021
- August 2019
- May 2018
- June 2015
- November 2014
- May 2014
- November 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- January 2005
- October 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
Tags
- Aging
- America
- Apartments
- Audio
- Aviation
- Beijing
- Books
- Bureaucracy
- Business
- Cats
- CCTV
- Censorship
- China
- China Daily
- China in the News
- Chinese
- Corruption
- Crisis Management
- Driving
- Economy
- Environment
- Ethics
- Food
- Generational Angst
- Global Times
- Humor
- Internet
- Journalism
- Korea
- Mandarin
- Marketing
- Media
- Memoir
- Motorola
- Music
- Nationalism
- Notices
- Olympics
- Palo Alto
- Parenthood
- Pets
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Propaganda
- Public Relations
- Radio
- Rants
- Rectified.name
- Remebrances
- Renegades
- Reputation
- Resident Alien
- Role Playing Games
- San Francisco
- Science
- Scuba Diving
- Shanghai
- Silicon Valley
- Singapore
- Soft Power
- Substack
- Taiwan
- Technology
- The '80s
- Travel
- TSMC
- USA
- Video
- Weird
- Whatever
- Xinhua
Feed
Meta
Tag Archives: Politics
Was the China corruption website collapse story “newsiness”?
The greatest contribution that comedian Stephen Colbert has made to modern society is the concept of “truthiness”. Reading from the Wikipedia definition, truthiness is: …a satirical term to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or “from the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, China in the News, Journalism, Media, Politics, Propaganda
Comments Off on Was the China corruption website collapse story “newsiness”?
Why the Yilishen ant-farming scandal was the perfect China story
Imagethief recently found himself huddled in a wintry hutong courtyard in conversation with two longtime Beijing-based foreign correspondents. During this discussion we came to the conclusion that the recent Yilishen ant-farming scandal is more or less the perfect China story. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, China in the News, Media, Politics, Weird
Comments Off on Why the Yilishen ant-farming scandal was the perfect China story
Notorious MDA: The Singapore government raps
From time to time someone will ask me why I left Singapore for China. This is a fair question. I lived there for nearly a decade, Mrs. Imagethief is Singaporean, and I have great affection for the place. Usually I … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Politics, Propaganda, Singapore, Soft Power, Weird
Comments Off on Notorious MDA: The Singapore government raps
The up is red
Imagethief was enrocketed to read on Friday that China’s taikonauts –whom I prefer to call “astronauts” because “taikonauts” sounds like they should be exploring my sugar bowl– are considering starting a Communist Party cell in outer space: “If China has … Continue reading
Bullet in the head: Marquee executions and public communication
As has been widely reported, the Chinese government has got round to making an official example of Zheng Xiaoyu, the disgraced former head of the State Food and Drug Administration who became the poster-boy for China’s rippling food and drug … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, China in the News, Crisis Management, Politics, Propaganda
Comments Off on Bullet in the head: Marquee executions and public communication
China’s food crisis PR strategy: Blame everyone else
A few weeks into China’s rippling food quality crisis a PR strategy is coming into view. It’s a classic one: blame everyone else. Unfortunately, it’s not likely to be all that effective because of two things. First, China does actually … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, China in the News, Crisis Management, Food, Media, Politics, Public Relations, Reputation
Comments Off on China’s food crisis PR strategy: Blame everyone else
I say “tomato”, you say “massacre”, let’s call the whole thing off
It is a truism of public relations and communication that he who controls the language with which an issue is defined controls the debate. If you can attach your terminology to a situation, you have leverage over public opinion. Don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, Journalism, Politics, Propaganda
Comments Off on I say “tomato”, you say “massacre”, let’s call the whole thing off
Did the “Genocide Olympics” influence China?
Propaganda and censorship are two sides of the same coin. Both share the same goal: to enable an individual or organization to shape consensus in a group. They often work together. Censorship eliminates competing ideas, creating a void in which … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, China in the News, Crisis Management, Olympics, Politics, Propaganda, Public Relations, Reputation, Soft Power
Comments Off on Did the “Genocide Olympics” influence China?
Asian media vows to make western media cry
Imagethief was tickled to read today in Xinhua an article from the Boao Forum for Asia, an annual Chinese talking shop, on how Asian media will rise up to challenge western media juggernauts. It seems that Asians take umbrage that … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, Journalism, Media, Politics, Propaganda, Singapore, Soft Power, Xinhua
Comments Off on Asian media vows to make western media cry
A funny thing happened on the way to political re-education
Imagethief was morbidly fascinated to find a Reuters article over the weekend that explains how the Chinese Propaganda Ministry has launched a point-based “demerit” system to try to encourage proper behavior from the print media: CHINA’S Communist Party propaganda department … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged China, Media, Politics, Propaganda
Comments Off on A funny thing happened on the way to political re-education
Imagethief 