media - Rebecca's take on the Nieman training stir

Rebecca MacKinnon

Rebecca MacKinnon gives in Global Voices her take on the recent brawl concerning the involvement of the prestigious Nieman Foundation for journalism at Harvard University. I'm not really surprised that she agrees with my viewpoint: you should get involved in this kind of media training. MacKinnon:

So what was the point of the planned Nieman training? Well, as it so happens, I was asked to help plan and participate in the training. Why was I interested in doing this? I spent 9 years being on the receiving end of official Chinese lies. Not only that, I spent many hours in police detention, was subject to surveillance, had my videotapes confiscated and had satellite transmission signals blocked when we were trying to report things the Chinese government didn't want the world to see. I have no interest in teaching them how to lie better. While I can't speak for the other organizers, I certainly intended to use my presence at the training as an opportunity to tell these people that lying doesn't pay off in the long run, and makes them look like thugs in the short run anyway. I felt that it was worthwhile to at least try to convince Chinese officials that openness, honesty, and transparency is ultimately the
best p.r.

China, including its media, is changing very fast and the chances of having a bit of positive influence on that impressive transition that takes place are zero when you do not want to acknowledge those changes. Looking from the outside at China and trying to boycot it in every possible way until it has changed into a paradise of human rights is so much past century.
Since the system is not going to change in the short run, the only hope for change comes from the system itself. And since paradise is still far away, finding good ways to contribute to that change is paramount.

Book on media training