Wester journalism and Chinese events (#105; Topic F)

Today's Wall Street Journal has an interesting story. It seemed that, a few days ago, two bloggers in China "temporarily closed down" their websites. To western journalists, that was all they needed to know before sending their "exclusives" around the world. BBC -- a service I generally listen to, along with a host of other English-language media in US -- reported that the website was "closed down by the authorities." This was picked up by Reporters Without Borders, which issued a statement "condemning the closure of the blogs." Well done. Fast? Clearly so -- in this business, speed is everything. Believable? Well, just use your common sense. Factual? Undoubtedly -- why bother to check, why waste time? -- speed and exclusivity are paramount. Well, as it turned out, these two bloggers shut down their blogs just for a day -- voluntarily -- own their own volition. No government involvement. This forced BBC to make a correction, as did Reporters Without Borders -- the former cryptically, the latter laughing it off as a "joke." So, is this western journalism in action?
Posted 12:05 pm, Tuesday, March 14, 2006