Chinese Blogger Chosen As Head of Investigation

Lew Perin writes "China hasn't developed much of a reputation for government transparency. And in Yunnan province, the case of a guy who died in police custody was starting to look like a cover up. But then the provincial government startled everyone by choosing a prominent local blogger to head the official investigation into the death. 'The unorthodox move to make popular bloggers heads of an investigation committee is a tacit admission by the Yunnan government of the power of the internet — especially blogs — in shaping Chinese public opinion. It also belies the widespread suspicion of the official version of Li's death.'"

Comments

Skids greased?

[palegray.net]

I wonder how much they're paying this prominent local blogger. There might be other methods of persuasion involved, too... forgive me for my automatic suspicion of any "investigation" the Chinese government conducts.

Re:Skids greased?

[mea37]

I don't trust them either, but I also know that I'm in no position to know one way or the other. Everything I "know" about the Chinese government, I heard from someone else.

I read an interview with some journalist -- I can't remember who at the moment, but it's not important -- in which he described the difference between skepticism and cynicism as the difference between "I don't know; I'm going to find out" vs. "I already know; I don't need to find out".

Of course, most Americans (including myself, I assume including you) aren't in a position to "find out". We can watch and wait, but even in the end we'll get information filtered through many hands we can choose to trust or not trust. If the blogger finds evidence that supports the story was being covered up, will we trust the people who say it proves the idea worked or those who say the blogger had an axe to grind? If he finds no evidence, will we trust those who say there was nothing to find, or those who say it proves the whole thing was a stunt? And that's if we ever see any follow-up to this story at all...

So I want to take a skeptical view when any government makes a move like this. It feels like it could be a pubilcity stunt. But I also know that barring a major change in my career and lifestyle, I cannot know for sure who is, or isn't, making an honest effort.

(Note that my above comment is not limited to the Chinese government. There's a definite propaganda spin that can be read from "embedded reporters", too.)

Absent the ability to independently verify, I guess the difference between a cynic and a skeptic is intent. So here's my question for everyone who claims standing to presume the intentions of the Chinese government: If presented with evidence that this was legit, would you hear it or would you dismiss it out of hand?

Re:Skids greased?

[palegray.net]

On the plus side, the case has been widely discussed in China's internet.

Emphasis mine, of course. I think that statement alone nicely illustrates the core problems with this whole concept.

Re:Skids greased?

[Ash Vince]

Do you speak and write fluent Chinese?

No? In which case one part of the internet will always be China's Internet while the English bit is everyones. This is because everyone speaks English as a second language.

We cannot moan about being excluded from certain discussions simply because most of the people directly affected by the discussion choose to have the discussion in their first language rather than ours.

Kid's game

[Samschnooks]

In wake of the widespread disbelief expressed across the Chinese internet with regard to the official explanation that a 24-year-old man died from serious brain injuries while playing hide-and-seek in a detention center...

Um, a 24 year old playing a kid's game. That's believable? Did I misread TFA?

What, the next time they'll say a guy died from playing patty-cake in prison?

Hide-and-seek?!?

[jlb0057]

Jinning police told Li's parents that he had sustained the head injuries, as well as kicks and blows, while playing hide-and-seek with other inmates

From the People that brought you an amazingly lame excuse, now accept this only-slightly-less-lame PR exercise.

Re:Credibility at last?

[castironpigeon]

and a good aggregation service

Fine with the rest, but goodluckwiththat. Online and offline news services still have the upper hand because you can go to one place and get all your news. Oh and amateur anythings suck at organizing themselves so I don't see this changing anytime soon.

Re:Credibility at last?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm still waiting to see a good argument that traditional journalists are still necessary, and cannot be completely replaced by enthusiastic amateur bloggers and a good aggregation service. I'm not saying such an argument does not exist, but I'm still waiting to see it.

Enthusiastic amateur bloggers can't afford to travel across the world. Most bloggers just take content that's created by traditional journalists and then provide analysis and aggregation. Without traditional journalists, there wouldn't be many bloggers. I respect what bloggers do, but let's face it, most of their work rides on the coattails of real journalists and other bloggers.

Old strategy

[mewsenews]

My father told me once that my Grandfather was a poor student and had discipline problems. One of his teachers noticed his rebellious attitude and successfully countered it by giving him additional responsibilities over his classmates.

I think it's a variation on the adage "if you can't beat'em, join'em". If you are in a position of power and someone is criticising the way things are being handled, invite them to help you handle them. They will be forced to put up or shut up, and if they criticise further they will be criticising themselves, which humans don't enjoy doing publicly.

China gave us Sun Tzu and the Art of War, they have an ancient civilization that was only opened with opium, black powder, and cannonballs. Their everyday politics are probably fascinating.

Re:Belies indeed.

[phoenix321]

If you're running a blog critical of the government in China, you've got to be pretty fearless, a lot stubborn and above all idealistic.

The obstacles They will throw in your way are worse than a thousand cuts but at least as numerous.

This guy was a complete strawman from the beginning, they have bribed him beyond anything imaginable or he's genuine.

It would be a pretty useless, threatening him or his family - They could not do anything without seriously exposing them to public outrage. The Chinese public is a bit tender right now due to widespread loss of jobs, a hard drought hitting the northeast, the overspending of money and conflicts over housing for the Beijing Olympics, the riots in Tibet last year and the aftermath of the earthquake disaster in Sichuan province.

Nope, I don't think the Party will risk anything in these times. China has come a long way towards wealth and peace in only the last ten years and it would be a shame and absolutely unreasonable to even the most simplistic peasant somewhere in Guandong to endanger this progress.

After all, this is a corruption like everywhere else in the world and nothing that couldn't be solved by executing the conspiracy leaders. China has quite a track record in executing even high Party officials when they committed serious and verifiable crimes- and they did it publicly.

A 'local blogger,' in a police state. Riiight.

[Hasai]

"So; you'll do this for us?"

"Um, yeah; sure."

"Gee, thanks. We know you'll do the job to everyone's satisfaction.... Oh, nice family, by the way. Be a shame if anything happened to them...."