May
22
2006
I am very very surprised that major news outlets have not picked up the stock market story in India. I only saw one from Reuter’s wire. The title was pretty scary: India on alert for suicides after stocks slide(c)
Basically, “market slide — which has been as much as 22.4 percent from an all-time high of 12,671.11 points on May 11″
“I borrowed money to trade in the market. I lost it all in the past two days,” said 37-year-old Sanjay Joshi, a small investor. “I don’t know how will I repay my loans.”
–Seems typical of market crash. But India is a large economy and is getting integrated into the world. Particularly, what if the commodity price drops as a result of this? If inflationary scare keeps lingering, return on energy investment diminishes and interest rate stays high: won’t world economy withdraws as a result?
May
22
2006
Read an article on China Youth Daily: 央视新闻调查幕后
The investigative TV program met with a lot of resistence (close to physical violence) when doing its work:
当时，一些当地基层官员的气焰非常嚣张。采访中，一名农妇告诉记者，“渗灌池没放过水，从来没用过”，跟在摄制组后面的一名乡干部立即大声呵斥她：“谁胡说我就收拾谁！”
摄制组结束一天工作后在运城大酒店下榻，并叮嘱司机把车停在凭窗可以目及的地方。司机终于忍不住了，用河南普通话问道：“你们到底是来干啥？我以前开车去邢台解救过人质，结果反被人家扣下了。咱们是不是也有危险？”
–Another example of central oversight over lawless local despot.
–Chinese state may have a monopoly on the means of violence, but it may not have the final control on the disbursement of such means.
–Is judicial independence a viable means to break this mold?
May
22
2006
Read an summary article on China Youth Daily: 网络年代的“新闻”
5月9日，《重庆晚报》报道了一则名为《渝大女生成南大形象大使》的新闻，内容是一位名叫兰花的女博士生，“身高1．68米，是学校公认的美女；她学习成绩优异，现在是南开大学的形象代言人”。
经过更多网站以讹传讹，标题也变得越来越“醒目”、越来越“抢眼”：《靓丽女博士当选南开大学形象大使》、《女博士成南开大学形象大使已婚令男性皆叹息》、《美女博士成为南开大学形象大使竟遭众人嫉妒》……一位南开学生在博客中写道：（这些报道）简直把兰花描述成了妲己，一个人见人爱，浑身散发性感气息的天生尤物。而事实上，除了《重庆晚报》的电话采访，兰花并没有接受过任何媒体的采访
5月9日，南开大学通过人民网、国际在线、北方网等媒体发表声明，但没能阻止假新闻通过网络迅速传播、繁衍和蔓延
5月12日，北京一家媒体刊登时评《大学不该以“美女博士”媚俗》。这篇时评此前曾出现在人民网上。就连中央精神文明建设指导委员会办公室主办的“中国精神文明网”也转载了该篇时评。
一个不争的事实是，网络已经成为假新闻的“放大器”。据统计，仅北京市的网站，每天就登载4万条左右的新闻信息，论坛帖文和新闻跟帖更新量多达70万条，页面总浏览量超过10亿页次，浏览者逾亿人次。
彭兰教授分析，带来这样一种内容与形式上的边缘化现象的一个主要原因，是网民需求的刺激。
–Another related article about 张海迪建议外国人娶中国妇女应交保证书 or her alleged proposal to 最终取消全国各地的营业性网吧
–Don’t know what to make of this. Without a mature journalism industry, Net is breeding a monster. Is it a temporary thing?