Thursday, March 3, 2011

To Report or not to Report: That is the Question

In class this week we've been focusing on the role of the journalist and media during the time of war. What about during our current time of protests?
In todays New York Times, there is an article about China's limitations on foreign journalists, where the government goes so far as to threaten the journalists to confiscate their visas if they do not comply with the limitations. Do journalists from other countries have the right to go into China and report on the current issues? Do we as citizens of other countries have the right to know what is happening in China or other non democratic countries?


check out the article... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/world/asia/04china.html?_r=1&hp

4 comments:

  1. I don't know if we, as Americans, have the right to go into another country and report their business. I do think though, that as Americans, we have the right to go into countries where there is American activity, such as into a country where America is fighting a war, and report that information. I certainly do not believe that such news should then be censored and sugar coated for the general population. If you can't deal with, then turn off the TV. But just because you can't deal with it does not mean that the rest of the population needs to be in the dark because of you.

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  2. When doing your own investigation on an incident you are sure to get the full and most accurate rendition but sometimes the attempt to attain the full rendition ends up being an exaggerated violation of privacy. The best way to asses this situation is by looking at it from the other side. If random Chinese reporters came to America and involved themselves in affairs that were not theirs especially knowing that the American government was limiting its own people's involvement we all know that would not go over well with anyone. So yes it's important to know what going on but why go where you're not wanted?

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  3. Hmm well since the U.S.’s territory doesn’t extend into China i would say that in the strictest sense they do not have the right, but really since when has that stopped anyone? we all overstep our boundaries occasionally, and just because they are not in the right to arbitrarily report china’s activities doesn’t mean we don’t have the responsibility to do so anyway. It's all a matter of priorities. Does a journalist owe more to following the established rules, or to informing ones readers of events that could potentially affect them?

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  4. It's interesting that the government is worrying about the international journalists - I feel like before the internet this was not as big of an issue because the people in the country could not communicate internationally the way people can now. However, with the internet, people can communicate with each other from all over the world, so I guess the Chinese government fears that if information is presented even outside of the country, it could spur protesting within the country itself. Just a thought...

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