The headline, “ China is the Real Sick Man of Asia,” is for a column by Bard College professor Walter Russel Mead on the shaky financial foundations of China’s economy. Wall Street Journal reporters protest ‘sick man’ headline in Wall Street Journal The headline in question — “China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia” … The editorial acknowledged criticism of the headline but defended it as echoing a description familiar to American readers that cast the late Ottoman Empire as the “sick old man … Wall Street Journal Reporters Protest ‘Sick Man’ Headline in Wall Street Journal Paul Farhi | Washington Post February 24, 2020 The Wall Street Journal ’s China staff is urging the newspaper to apologize for a headline that prompted the Chinese government to expel three of its journalists last week.