media - Nieman Foundation pulls out of China program Harvard



The Nieman Foundation for journalism at Harvard University has pulled out of the planned program for Chinese officials who will be trained to deal with media ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after a stir emerged among its former fellows, AP reports.

Bob Giles, curator of the foundation, decided to end the partnership after Nieman alumni raised concerns last weekend about the Chinese government's history of media oppression.

The program still will take place. As said before, I would great encourage this kind of exchange, since that is the only way to start a dialog about the differences between the media systems and what is the best way to change them. But journalists tend to be rather conservative in this approach and have not really an idea about how fast China is changing - although there is still much room for improvement. Same goes for the international trade unions, but that is another story.

Addition: Bill Bishop says it even stronger in his weblog. I always feel reluctant to mess around with other country's internal affairs. :-)

Perhaps those same Western journalists should take courses in how to avoid continually and credulously regurgitating White House propaganda.

Books on Beijing Olympics