Bits of the Media, Part Two

Part One

True to the lessons of this summer, I continue reading international news sources. I'm not being consistent with it by any means (all of this stuff comes from what I read on Monday DURING LUNCH), but I'm doing more of it than I did before May, so I've progressed a little bit, at least.

1) I'm completely new to this news source. This is Xinhua News Agency, an official media outlet of the Chinese government. It's like the BBC in that way, in that public money supports it. It's quite different, however, in that it reports directly to the Communist Party of China's publicity department, so some say it will always favor the party line (as in this article discussing China's partnerships with Latin America and this one reporting a protest of a "separatist"'s visit to Australia). (So, it really isn't much like the BBC.) You should not ignore what it reports, though. Because China is becoming more important in the world, I'd say it's near-required to pay at least some attention to it. You can learn a little about how the party thinks and acts, you can read & watch relatively independent reports of sports & natural disasters, and you'll get the chance to read about things like Shenzhen's experiment in "the separation of powers". (Although I can't stop thinking about The Onion's riff on this aspect of Chinese media.)

2) This one scared the bejeebus out of me.

My J110 professor sent this Nation article to my science writing professor over Facebook. (The wall-to-wall post showed up in my news feed.) Although I've seen everything in the article before (whether in both professors' classes, in my internship, or even in the international reporting class), but to see it again, all synthesized into a Nation article, made me cry a little inside. By what my limited experience can tell, all of it is true, and by what my limited experience can feel, all of it is terrifying as I try to enter the field. It ends with a little bit of cheeriness, and as I read it I thought of the Science Media Centre's work in this regard; but nothing can end well enough when the penultimate paragraph sounds like this:

In light of the media upheaval, scientists can no longer assume that a responsible, high-minded press will treat their ideas with the seriousness they deserve, delivering them to policy-makers and the public for sober consideration. Instead, partisan media will convey diametrically opposed versions of where science actually stands on any contentious subject--consider, for example, the difference between how Fox News and NPR cover climate change--even as most of the public (and many policy-makers) will tune out science more or less completely, besieged by other information options.

3) Okay, now for something funny. We need a bit of that every now and then. (Not too much of it, but at least a little.)

My favorite on-the-scene reporting to watch is in inclement weather, and nothing provides inclement weather like a hurricane. And nothing is more fun than to watch reporters try to play cool (or give up the charade!). Time collected the ten best.

That’s a wrap of what I’ve read on the Internet recently. Enjoy your own reading.