In what is being called the first death of a citizen journalist in China, news sources are reporting the fatal beating of a Chinese blogger who had stopped his vehicle to take pictures of a protest demonstration with his cell camera. City inspection authorities, alarmed at the prospect of blog post documenting their treatment of protestors, swarmed the blogger and beat him to death. Read CNN International's story here. Journalism has never been a "safe" profession, and the same can be said for citizen journalists in tightly controlled societies. Host of the next Summer Olympics, China has acted to punish the local authorities invovled by firing the senior official involved. Investigations continue as I write. One can only hope that this is the last such unfortunate episode. It is gratifying to note that the Chinese blogosphere helped to drive the government's quick intervention.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Authorities Beat Blogger to Death in China
In what is being called the first death of a citizen journalist in China, news sources are reporting the fatal beating of a Chinese blogger who had stopped his vehicle to take pictures of a protest demonstration with his cell camera. City inspection authorities, alarmed at the prospect of blog post documenting their treatment of protestors, swarmed the blogger and beat him to death. Read CNN International's story here. Journalism has never been a "safe" profession, and the same can be said for citizen journalists in tightly controlled societies. Host of the next Summer Olympics, China has acted to punish the local authorities invovled by firing the senior official involved. Investigations continue as I write. One can only hope that this is the last such unfortunate episode. It is gratifying to note that the Chinese blogosphere helped to drive the government's quick intervention.
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