News has emerged that the Chinese government has detained at least five bloggers from the United States for reporting on protests in favor of Tibetan independence. Included among the detained was the widely admired founder of the video blog series Alive in Baghdad, Brian Conley.
The detentions follow a wave of arrests of Chinese dissidents leading up to the Olympics. The US government pledged as the games began to engage the Chinese government concerning human rights - we wonder what those conversations look like now that China has detained journalists consistently critical of US policy as well.
New online media have opened the doors to people publishing on budgets that would never have supported journalistic efforts in the past. That new generation of publishers has a greater freedom to take risks because they aren't as beholden to the interests of sponsors. That's one way to describe the political impact on journalism of blogging - another way might be that these new media have opened up publishing to activists with less interest in objectivity than traditional journalists have aimed for.
Either way, the impact of blogging and video blogging on the world at large is widely recognized and it's no surprise that the authoritarian Chinese government is taking steps to protect itself. We condemn the detention of any journalists, whether they strive for objectivity or tell stories from a particular perspective.
According to extensive coverage on BoingBoing, the following US journalists and/or activists are all currently missing:
- James Powderly
- Brian Conley
- Jeffrey Rae
- Jeff Goldin
- Michael Liss
- Tom Grant
We're working on creating a widget displaying video, information and a button to call US Congressional representatives but for now we'll leave you with the following video published by Conley in China last week. Update: Ribbit.com doesn't want to give us an account promptly, so we'll just say - if you want to call the US Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee to register your concern about the 5 people above, they are at +1 202 225 5021 and they are waiting for you. We just called them a few minutes ago.
Comments
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Sad to hear about China detaining 5 US Bloggers - http://bit.ly/3a8q2Y
Posted by: Nice Fish Films
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August 20, 2008 1:11 PM
Such sad news. There seems to be a lot of good coverage on this issue today. iTunes seems to be getting blocked in China due to Songs for Tibet. ITN had a journalist roughed up recently- http://tinyurl.com/6hn62g
Hope we gather our collective voices and speak out.
Posted by: Michael Sean Wright | August 20, 2008 1:18 PM
I want to 'like' this post on friendfeed, but this is very sad news :( I hope they don't get their keyboards taken away
Posted by: Stepan Mazurov
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August 20, 2008 1:40 PM
Hey, different cultures, different laws. Americans are not exactly an example of freedom these days. Kudos for China until americans stop behaving like NAZIS themselves.
Posted by: Objective View | August 20, 2008 1:46 PM
Wow. For as screwed up as we all hear that the US is, it really makes you thankful for our freedoms here. We have some changes to make here, but let's not forget what we do have! I hope everyone gets out of this OK. I would think that after the Olympics is over, they will be released.
I saw a video on TV that was documenting the fact that the Chinese government was detaining "trouble makers" until the Olympics were over. (those that applied for a permit for demonstrations)
Posted by: Troy Malone | August 20, 2008 2:04 PM
That's awful. Thank you for taking the time to post this and work on a widget for it - I really think that's a valuable public service, since there's no real organization to back up bloggers in these kinds of situations. Gawker, TechCrunch etc have their core group, but many bloggers are out on their own with a loose network of friends and fellow bloggers.
Posted by: Sid Savara | August 20, 2008 2:07 PM
The harder China tries to make Tibet go away, the more foolish they look. That is not to say that the US doesn't look foolish over Iraq, but two wrongs don't make a right. The consistent targeting of Buddhist monks and the cultural genocide that is going on in Tibet is a travesty. I don't think the world at large really appreciates what will be lost if China's plan for Tibet succeeds.
Posted by: Matt | August 20, 2008 2:11 PM
I can tell you that those guys are not welcome in China. Please show your sympathy to Baghdad, Abu Ghraib before you criticize China's Tibet policy.
Posted by: National Blography | August 20, 2008 2:49 PM
This is so brilliantly a classic example and test of social 2.0 transparency.
There are no walls :)
Posted by: Paula Thornton | August 20, 2008 2:53 PM
@Objective View
Dude...what?! Were those bloggers behaving like Nazis? I'm sorry, but that's absurd.
Posted by: chris | August 20, 2008 3:32 PM
This is the same mistake made by teenage boys with weapons - they say they would like respect, but they think the way to achieve that is for people to fear them. People are afraid of them, but they neither respect them, or like them.
It is also typical that people here, some commenting from China, are bringing up 'the US government are no better'. That is irrelevant.
These bloggers are not the US government, they are not representatives of the US governments opinion. They are often the opposition to the US government, and they are holding the Chinese government to the same high standards.
This may be a concept that is hard to understand, but it is precisely what is at the centre of this - our governments may be as bad as each other, but we are free to criticise ours for it's behaviour, and to hold it to account.
Equally, rather than discouraging criticism, this makes the Chinese government look like a bunch of fools. The same applies when the leadership need to be hidden from democratic protest when they visit Western countries.
Only children (and 'hear no evil' monkey) stick their hands over their ears so they can't hear what is being said.
Posted by: JulesLt | August 20, 2008 5:30 PM
@sid: Yes, if only. Maybe some kind of...committee...
Posted by: Committee to Protect Bloggers | August 20, 2008 8:20 PM
One good thing has come out of the Beijing Olympics: China's human rights record has been laid bare for all to see. Far too many of us have claimed that China "really isn't that bad" and "their system is just as good as ours". It wasn't long ago that a blogger at one of RWW's rivals laid out a vigorous defense of China's unconscionable policies. We can no longer be so ignorant.
The detention of five U.S. bloggers is an outrage. But we shouldn't forget about the fate of thousands of Chinese political dissidents. Those in prison are suffering in appalling conditions, faced with disease, starvation and torture. Many others have been simply executed.
China has used it's wealth to create the illusion of a modern society. Too many of us have been willingly deceived. But the illusion is no more: China is an anachronistic, brutal authoritarian state.
Posted by: Marcello | August 21, 2008 4:13 AM
We've posted a small update to the situation her: http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/citizenjournalists/update0821/
Posted by: Nathan Dorjee | August 21, 2008 5:36 AM
Come on, is there any evidence the chinese police do this obeying on the chinese laws? Free Tibet? Don't you guys remember what happened when people call out the free Hawaii.
Posted by: never forget | August 21, 2008 8:59 PM
Sometimes I want to see what washington will do when a blogger put a video about Free California protest or free 49 States :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaiWCS10C5s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ndctwAJmU
Peace...
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