E-Media Tidbits

Wenxin, via Flickr (CC license) Blogger, journalist, and educator Rebecca MacKinnon, shown here in Beijing, 2005.

Blogging from Singapore, MacKinnon observed: "Many people here at the conference found it surprising that blogs are already having such a substantial impact on foreign journalists' China coverage.

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"Another finding that surprised people was that a lot of working journalists (unlike most people who study or write about journalism) find it useless to ask whether blogs in general are more or less 'reliable' or 'credible' than some other medium. Journalists evaluate each blog according to its individual merits, depending on what is known about the blogger's background and track record."

Her paper illustrates the argument that webloggers and professional journalists are not at loggerheads. Rather, they increasingly complement each other.

There are specific reasons why blogs have a larger influence on China coverage than possibly elsewhere in the world, MacKinnon acknowledges. For example:

• In international media, the China story is not dominated by military conflict or any one obvious single storyline.

• The China story is not generally a "breaking story," but rather a "process story" about how this complex and geopolitically important country is changing, and what that change means for the rest of the world.

• There is strong demand for specialist insight, information and analysis on a range of subjects.

MacKinnon lists more of her arguments in this case in her blog post today.