The answer to the title question is now apparently yes.

Incendiary spite and sarcasm from particular bloggers soon to follow, I am sure.

---Previously---

Over at Letters from China, commentators have turned what started as a snipey exchange about the intentions behind certain blogres' actions (I use the French form of the word to appear especially haughty) has turned into John Kennedy making calls for a Chinese translators' collaboration project.

It's my feeling that the majority of bloggers are not really self-hating, or even narcissistic hermits, who serve tripe on blogs to draw attention to themselves. I certainly am, but those guys are not.

My experience in Hong Kong has definitely shown me that people who are actually concerned about the media, the shape of Chinese culture and the interaction between East and West, are in good company. The blogs that have developed in this space serve multiple functions. But I will concentrate on one area for now, just as a way of sorting out a list of places to go to find good reads on a region that can be confusing.

The most defined of the definining characteristic among the men and women I talk to offline and online about media and blogging is this: They seem genuinely interested in focusing the western or English-language media's interpretation of the extremely complex and often hard-to-find news that is really happening in China. By focusing, I don't mean spin. I mean that they do three things very well:

1. They provide context, where context is needed, as in the efforts of David Bandurski who works at the China Media Project, and who always buys Indian food after a workout every second week.

2. They provide a list of commentary and dialog happening around the world and create alternative news, written by people who use to be those who read the news. That credit goes to Rebecca MacKinnon, formerly a CNN correspondent who now teaches at the University of Hong Kong.

3. They write open letters to big corporations, like those written by Isaac Mao. Here is his Open Letter to the Founders of Google.

More later. I am going to enjoy the Chinese New Year. Upon my return, I will discuss the media, the Internet, the role that journalists play, and how to get free food from McDonald's.

 

rion
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