Reading Journal No. 4

Liu Xiaobo, Controversial Nobel Peace Prize Winner

For this week’s reading journal I wanted to look at two different news mediums. Today, blogs have become an important news source. After Robert Mackey was a guest speaker in our class, I found myself reading his blog, The Lede on a daily basis. What caught my eye is the controversy over China’s Liu Xiaobo awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Mackey titled this “Jailed Chinese Dissident ‘Final Statement’.” Alongside, I also looked into The New York Times’ article on the same topic, “Nobel Peace Prize Given to Jailed Chinese Dissident”.

The news lede for both stories were similar:

The Lede: On Friday, Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident currently serving an 11-year term in jail, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, as my colleagues Andrew Jacobs and Jonathan Ansfield report from Beijing.

NY Times: Liu Xiaobo, an impassioned literary critic, political essayist and democracy advocate repeatedly jailed by the Chinese government for his writings, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”

It seems like both news lede are suggesting that what's important is that Liu received the Nobel Peace Prize, but actually, the news here is what and why Liu received the prestigious award and the aftermath. The real news for the NY Times article is "the Norwegian Nobel Committee has provided an unmistakable rebuke to Beijing’s authoritarian leaders at a time of growing intolerance for domestic dissent and a spreading unease internationally over the muscular diplomacy that has accompanied China’s economic rise."

Half way through the article, Jacobs and Ansfield break into "The Hour Glass." The break starts with general information, "An inexhaustible writer, poet and piquant social commentator, Mr. Liu was among the first of his generation to return to college after the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976, when schools were shuttered and intellectuals were banished to the countryside." From there, Jacobs and Ansfield give us a thorough history of Liu from his university days to his work days, then concentrating on his human rights "achievements." It allows the reader to get a better understanding of Liu and why the Nobel Peace Prize is controversial.

Mackey's blog post is different. The original entry was posted on Friday at 8:39 AM and from there, he probably made about 4-5 updates, the last one at 4:32 PM. I remember Mackey saying that whenever new information arrives he feels the need to update the information without removing anything he already posted, be it right or wrong. But on issue I had was that he didn't keep the updated information in order of when he received. Rather, it became intertwined with all the other information and unless I refresh the page every hour, I wouldn't be able to know what's the newly updated information. But I appreciated that with blogs, updating new information are much much faster than in newspapers.

Mackey also took advantage of "the power of the internet" which at first included a streaming video of the current situation in China after Xiaobo was awarded the letter, but was later updated with an interview of Xiaobo giving his "Final Statement" before serving time in jail.