The Globe has a story today about Conrad Harper resigning from the Harvard Corporation. For those readers not in the know, the Corporation is the University's most powerful body, and controls the appointment of Harvard's president. Over the last few years, old-guard members have been retiring, and replaced with supporters of President Summers. Some of the retirees have gone willingly and with no hard feelings, but Harper claims he was frustrated with Summers' style.
This trend on the Corporation mirrors what's been happening with Harvard's professional school deans. Although some have moved on for normal reasons -- e.g., they've been deans for a long time, or have been offered better positions elsewhere -- it's no secret that those who have resisted or opposed Summers have been forced out. Summers is big on authority, centralized power, and loyalty, and those who don't follow the party line are shown the door.
This disappoints me. I was an undergraduate at Boston University during John Silber's tyrannical reign. Under Silber's tenure there were some improvements to the campus infrastructure, and BU's academic reputation improved, but Silber also oversaw some terrible management blunders -- WBUR's Jane Christo, the Dean Maitre fiasco and the aborted Presidential search featuring Dan Goldin spring to mind.
At least at Harvard, there is a strong and vocal faculty organization which is willing to stand up to Summers.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Chinese journalism thoughts and De Burgh's research
I spent a few hours tonight accessing electronic journal articles through the Harvard Libraries website, looking for points of view or methodologies that might help me in my thesis preparation.
In Journalism Studies Volume 4, Number 2, pages 225-238 (May 2003), I read with some interest an article by Hugo De Burgh of Goldsmith's College, London, called "Great Aspirations and Conventional Repertoires: Chinese regional television journalists and their work." According to the abstract,
De Burgh makes some interesting contrasts between television news coverage in Hangzhou and Birmingham, England. There is no doubt that this is a critical study -- a condemnation, even -- of Chinese journalism practices. De Burgh is a former British television newsman who did his PhD on Chinese regional television journalists, which included 11 weeks of field study in China in 2000 or 2001. Besides pointing readers toward some relevant studies of Chinese journalism, he also concisely sums up "themes" in Chinese journalism which serve as a helpful summary for the state of Chinese journalism today:
Later, De Burgh observes:
Ah-hah! So someone else has studied New China News Agency (i.e., Xinhua) news content in depth, and reported the findings in English. I must check this research, it pertains directly to what I am interested in. According to bibliography, the paper, or book, is
Porter, Robin (Ed.) (1992) Reporting the News from China, London: RIIA.
I've requested it from the Harvard depository, and maybe will pick it up next week when I go to Cambridge for the ALM thesis-writers' meeting.
Lastly, an interesting footnote appeared in De Burgh's paper, regarding the role of directives from propaganda departments on television journalists in Hangzhou:
This footnote confirms what others have suggested regarding the influence of the government upon journalism coverage in China. While some coverage may be considered "self censorship" to appease the official line, this account suggests that direct government influence upon news reporting is alive and well in China.
Also, as I was perusing the articles, I considered a potential weakness in doing a content analysis of Xinhua content based on frequency counts of words related to Chinese history. An early idea of mine was that an increase in such references would indicate an increase in the government to promote nationalism, but there are alternate hypotheses .... would this increase represent more propaganda, or legitimate commemorations or celebrations of Chinese heritage? For instance, an increase over time of refs to "Zheng He" could be citing Zheng He's accomplishments in order to build national pride, or to give props to the contributions of Chinese muslims in order to build a sense of belonging or unity among minorities. But, when one considers Communism has on the wane since the mid 1970s, and the anti-feudal attitudes of the 1960s and 1970s are fading, these references could indicate that people want to rediscover and celebrate Chinese history.
On the other hand, a good case for nationalistic or patriotic feeling and history could be made if one ties in refs to historical incidents or persons to references to the government, the party, or other touchstones of nationalism.
In Journalism Studies Volume 4, Number 2, pages 225-238 (May 2003), I read with some interest an article by Hugo De Burgh of Goldsmith's College, London, called "Great Aspirations and Conventional Repertoires: Chinese regional television journalists and their work." According to the abstract,
This paper examines Chinese regional television news packages to establish what congruence there might be between the declared beliefs of the reporters about their work, and the reports they produce each day. Chinese television reporters from Hangzhou were interviewed and their news product examined across a month long sample. Interviews conducted with Chinese journalists revealed that they see themselves as scrutinising government, representing the people to the government and vice versa. Examination of their news product, however, suggests that they are mere transmitters of the political line of the government and of the cultural prejudices of their masters.
De Burgh makes some interesting contrasts between television news coverage in Hangzhou and Birmingham, England. There is no doubt that this is a critical study -- a condemnation, even -- of Chinese journalism practices. De Burgh is a former British television newsman who did his PhD on Chinese regional television journalists, which included 11 weeks of field study in China in 2000 or 2001. Besides pointing readers toward some relevant studies of Chinese journalism, he also concisely sums up "themes" in Chinese journalism which serve as a helpful summary for the state of Chinese journalism today:
Governing Themes or Myths (signification)
The myth of hierarchy and leadership. Scholars of
Chinese social psychology (Bond, 1999), of
management (Redding, 1990), of bureaucracy
(Weber, in Beetham, 1974) and of family life
(Ho, 1989) have argued that Chinese people are
more inclined than Anglophones to accept
hierarchy as natural, to expect paternalism and
to attribute competence to leaders. It should
therefore not be surprising that journalism
devotes a very large amount of its time to the
doings and pronouncements of these leaders.
The myth of the CCP as saviour.
Friedman (1995) and other scholars have characterised the CCP
story of how it saved China from both foreign
imperialism and internal traitors, and how it
remains the only possible salvation for all
Chinese people everywhere, as the "northern
narrative". They critique it as only one of the
possible ways of interpreting modern Chinese
history and of predicting China's future. Thus
they have placed the narrative in a wider
cultural perspective, diminishing claims made
for its authority. It is not surprising that this
particular myth is prominent, since it cannot be
publicly challenged in China.
The myths of cooperation, unanimity and absence of
conflict.
The same scholars who have described
the propensity to hierarchy in Chinese society
have also pointed to the belief that unanimity is
possible, desirable and to be presented as if
true. This is a society that values interpersonal
and inter-unit harmony and does not value
open confrontation. Thus we can say that the
importance given to the coverage of
meetings--which are not televisual--and
except that the emphasis seems slightly
different. We do not see the solutions in
England, but we are usually promised them, so
that we can relax. While this is also the case in
Chinese stories, there appears to be a greater
propensity to transmit stories only once the
solutions have been worked out and are in
operation.
The myth of salvation through wealth.
It appears to be an unspoken belief underpinning the vast
amount of programming covering different
aspects of economic development--and on the
whole in a dull way, supplying statistics over
mediocre footage, without any attempt at
human interest--that economic development is
the most important thing in the world. Since
the content of many of the other stories, of
meetings and high leader activity for example,
is also connected to economic development, we
can see that this myth suffuses most of the
news. That it is an important myth in todayХs
China will not be a surprise. This is also an
important myth in England, but English news
is not pervaded by it. One possible reason for
this relative exclusion is that it is eclipsed by a
stronger myth, that of the individual, which has
every issue and every event presented in
individual human-interest terms, diluting other
messages.
Later, De Burgh observes:
Chinese regional television news rarely challenges
or investigates; in the interviews, the
reporters appear to believe that they are doing
just, but in practice they beat the drum for
economic progress, passing on the statistics
provided by government departments and
large companies, and promote the image of the
leadership and the myth of the CCP as the
essential dynamo of China. Indeed the range of
news content is not substantially different from
that identified by other researchers twenty
years previously, notably by Porter in his report
of NCNA news selection and operation
(Porter, 1992, Appendices A and B).
Ah-hah! So someone else has studied New China News Agency (i.e., Xinhua) news content in depth, and reported the findings in English. I must check this research, it pertains directly to what I am interested in. According to bibliography, the paper, or book, is
Porter, Robin (Ed.) (1992) Reporting the News from China, London: RIIA.
I've requested it from the Harvard depository, and maybe will pick it up next week when I go to Cambridge for the ALM thesis-writers' meeting.
Lastly, an interesting footnote appeared in De Burgh's paper, regarding the role of directives from propaganda departments on television journalists in Hangzhou:
Editors regularly receive directives from party offices, originating from the CCP Central Propaganda Department, the New China News Agency (NCNA) and the Propaganda Department of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) General Political Department. One of these offices’ principal jobs is to supply the appropriate formulations in regular circulars or in the newsletters for journalists, such as Newspaper Trends. There are weekly post facto evaluation sessions held at most media outlets, at which party officials are present. The word “propaganda” has recently been changed to “information” in English translations of the titles referred to above.
This footnote confirms what others have suggested regarding the influence of the government upon journalism coverage in China. While some coverage may be considered "self censorship" to appease the official line, this account suggests that direct government influence upon news reporting is alive and well in China.
Also, as I was perusing the articles, I considered a potential weakness in doing a content analysis of Xinhua content based on frequency counts of words related to Chinese history. An early idea of mine was that an increase in such references would indicate an increase in the government to promote nationalism, but there are alternate hypotheses .... would this increase represent more propaganda, or legitimate commemorations or celebrations of Chinese heritage? For instance, an increase over time of refs to "Zheng He" could be citing Zheng He's accomplishments in order to build national pride, or to give props to the contributions of Chinese muslims in order to build a sense of belonging or unity among minorities. But, when one considers Communism has on the wane since the mid 1970s, and the anti-feudal attitudes of the 1960s and 1970s are fading, these references could indicate that people want to rediscover and celebrate Chinese history.
On the other hand, a good case for nationalistic or patriotic feeling and history could be made if one ties in refs to historical incidents or persons to references to the government, the party, or other touchstones of nationalism.
Blog search engines and Extension School bloggers
Lots of people have complained about the terrible state of blog search, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I tried out a new blog search engine (Clusty) and found a bunch of new Harvard Extension School bloggers that had not been indexed by Google, Technorati, or Bloglines. Actually, maybe they were indexed, but not under a search of "Harvard Extension School" or "Harvard" and "Extension School."
Interestingly, these other EXT bloggers all use the same platform, Live Journal. While their blogs are not focussed on the Extension School, they seem to be taking classes there, or are registered degree candidates:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/supercheesegirl/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/brigid/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/glitterpixy/
Nice to learn about other people blogging about the Extension School!
Interestingly, these other EXT bloggers all use the same platform, Live Journal. While their blogs are not focussed on the Extension School, they seem to be taking classes there, or are registered degree candidates:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/supercheesegirl/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/brigid/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/glitterpixy/
Nice to learn about other people blogging about the Extension School!
Fairbank's "China: A New History"
If you are a student of Chinese history, there's a book that should be on your bookshelf: John King Fairbank's China: A New History. Even though it's almost 15 years old, it is a great read and a great reference.
John King Fairbank was a giant in the field of China studies, and taught at Harvard for decades. I was first exposed to his work when I was an undergraduate at Boston University in the late 1980s. Professor Merle Goldman (one of his former Harvard students) taught Chinese history using an earlier textbook that he co-wrote, East Asia: Tradition and Transformation.
Fifteen years later, when I started my graduate studies at the Extension School, Professor Philip Kuhn, another one of Fairbank's disciples, used China: A New History as a textbook, and also recommended its prose-style bibliography as the basis for research papers. My old B.U. professor, Merle Goldman, is credited as a co-author of China: A New History.
Last night I was flipping through the bibliography, and for the first time read the acknowledgements section at the end of the book. This is the part where the author gives thanks to all of the people that assisted in the research, writing, and editing processes. It turns out that Fairbank never had a chance to write one; he submitted the final manuscript on Sept. 12, 1991, had a heart attack that afternoon, and died two days later. The acknowledgement, written by a colleague, explained this, and mentioned all of the people at Harvard and elsewhere who helped him finish this one last project. It turns out Fairbank had been in declining health, but managed to finish this book, which you could say was the culmination of his life's work.
If you are interested in reading it, check your university library, or order it at Amazon.
John King Fairbank was a giant in the field of China studies, and taught at Harvard for decades. I was first exposed to his work when I was an undergraduate at Boston University in the late 1980s. Professor Merle Goldman (one of his former Harvard students) taught Chinese history using an earlier textbook that he co-wrote, East Asia: Tradition and Transformation.
Fifteen years later, when I started my graduate studies at the Extension School, Professor Philip Kuhn, another one of Fairbank's disciples, used China: A New History as a textbook, and also recommended its prose-style bibliography as the basis for research papers. My old B.U. professor, Merle Goldman, is credited as a co-author of China: A New History.
Last night I was flipping through the bibliography, and for the first time read the acknowledgements section at the end of the book. This is the part where the author gives thanks to all of the people that assisted in the research, writing, and editing processes. It turns out that Fairbank never had a chance to write one; he submitted the final manuscript on Sept. 12, 1991, had a heart attack that afternoon, and died two days later. The acknowledgement, written by a colleague, explained this, and mentioned all of the people at Harvard and elsewhere who helped him finish this one last project. It turns out Fairbank had been in declining health, but managed to finish this book, which you could say was the culmination of his life's work.
If you are interested in reading it, check your university library, or order it at Amazon.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
2005-2006 Extension School Catalogue is out!
You can download the PDF of the catalog here; the website should be updated next week.
I see my old classmate from Professor Ostrowski's History of the World: Rise of the East class, Matt Reid ALB '05, is pictured on page 81 (congratulations on the degree, Matt!). I also see that there are three or four classes relating to the history of Christianity, and a new class on the history of Japan. Peter Bol's online class on China is also available again.
I see my old classmate from Professor Ostrowski's History of the World: Rise of the East class, Matt Reid ALB '05, is pictured on page 81 (congratulations on the degree, Matt!). I also see that there are three or four classes relating to the history of Christianity, and a new class on the history of Japan. Peter Bol's online class on China is also available again.
Friday, July 22, 2005
American journalists in foreign countries
American journalist Richard Baimbridge has been talking about his experiences living and working in China for the past five years on a well-known journalism website. It's a very interesting story he has to tell; he has really immersed himself in the language and culture and for a time even joined a monastery in Yunnan to study martial arts.
Unlike most other foreign journalists living in China, he has managed to spend a lot of time in the south and southwest, which he discusses in the article. He also criticizes the non-Chinese speaking segment of the foreign press corps in China:
This problem exists everywhere. Foreign journalists, who are expected to explain to home audiences what's going on abroad, are sent to or stationed in these countries without learning the language, customs, history, etc. Interviews must be conducted through translators or English-speaking intermediaries, and other details are gleaned from sources such as local English news services and foreign wire reports.
It's understandable that a journo won't be able to learn Mandarin for a two-week assignment in Beijing, but if a reporter is stationed there for longer than six months, he or she should have some language skills to start with, or make a point to study the language after arriving.
While learning how to read and write Chinese is extremely difficult, spoken Mandarin is not hard. when I lived in Taipei in the 1990s, I reached a proficient level of spoken Mandarin after four months of classroom instruction (10 hours per week plus a few hours of homework). Within a year I was able to be interviewed in Mandarin for a newswriting job (which I got), and after about 18 months of instruction was conducting news interviews in Mandarin on my own.
Having local language skills makes you a better and more effective journalist. It allows you to interact with the people and society in ways that are not possible through a translator or other sources, and also lets you work with local colleagues, businesspeople, and officials far more efficiently.
Unlike most other foreign journalists living in China, he has managed to spend a lot of time in the south and southwest, which he discusses in the article. He also criticizes the non-Chinese speaking segment of the foreign press corps in China:
I was surprised to discover that an appalling number of foreign correspondents here (and I mean for major publications) speak no Chinese at all, relying totally on translators, which perhaps explains why American media coverage of China is so poor. (If you want to know what's happening in China, read French or British newspapers).
This problem exists everywhere. Foreign journalists, who are expected to explain to home audiences what's going on abroad, are sent to or stationed in these countries without learning the language, customs, history, etc. Interviews must be conducted through translators or English-speaking intermediaries, and other details are gleaned from sources such as local English news services and foreign wire reports.
It's understandable that a journo won't be able to learn Mandarin for a two-week assignment in Beijing, but if a reporter is stationed there for longer than six months, he or she should have some language skills to start with, or make a point to study the language after arriving.
While learning how to read and write Chinese is extremely difficult, spoken Mandarin is not hard. when I lived in Taipei in the 1990s, I reached a proficient level of spoken Mandarin after four months of classroom instruction (10 hours per week plus a few hours of homework). Within a year I was able to be interviewed in Mandarin for a newswriting job (which I got), and after about 18 months of instruction was conducting news interviews in Mandarin on my own.
Having local language skills makes you a better and more effective journalist. It allows you to interact with the people and society in ways that are not possible through a translator or other sources, and also lets you work with local colleagues, businesspeople, and officials far more efficiently.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
New Harvard resource: E-Research@Harvard Libraries
Users of Hollis and Harvard Libraries online have a new resource to search electronic databases, journals, and catalogs .... E-Research@Harvard Libraries. Here's the official intro:
I've given it a spin, and I have to say that the user interface is not intuitive. For instance, Quick Search is not available as a text field on every screen; rather you have to return "home" to use it. Also, the results it returns are not isolated to electronic resources ... for instance, a simple search I performed (Chinese media) yields lots of results in the ordinary Hollis catalog (books) and nothing in electronic journal articles. Also, there are links to other resources in the search results, but the data from the original search are not carried over if you click on the link. On the other hand, I didn't read the tutorial or help pages, so my opinions should be viewed as uninformed.
Harvard students with an ID and PIN can log in and try it themselves.
Welcome to E-Research @ Harvard Libraries. Here you can identify, locate, and connect to Harvard's growing collection of e-resources and e-journals. You can also use new tools that allow you to search multiple resources at one time and to save sets of e-resources, e-journals, and citations.
I've given it a spin, and I have to say that the user interface is not intuitive. For instance, Quick Search is not available as a text field on every screen; rather you have to return "home" to use it. Also, the results it returns are not isolated to electronic resources ... for instance, a simple search I performed (Chinese media) yields lots of results in the ordinary Hollis catalog (books) and nothing in electronic journal articles. Also, there are links to other resources in the search results, but the data from the original search are not carried over if you click on the link. On the other hand, I didn't read the tutorial or help pages, so my opinions should be viewed as uninformed.
Harvard students with an ID and PIN can log in and try it themselves.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Spinning my wheels/Fall classes
I have been on vacation for more than a week, and am just catching up with my blog right now.
We're now almost halfway through the summer, but besides doing a lot of thinking, I haven't done any work on my thesis proposal for reasons which should be obvious to regular readers of the blog. I am going to keep plugging away at developing my thesis proposal, but if I keep spinning my wheels into August, I may consider putting it off until I take some more classes. I still have one history class and a writing-intensive elective to take, and the lectures, discussions, and assigments for these could help me focus my ideas and methodologies.
According to the Extension School website, the 2005-2006 courses will be posted online in late July. I am interested in seeing what's available.
We're now almost halfway through the summer, but besides doing a lot of thinking, I haven't done any work on my thesis proposal for reasons which should be obvious to regular readers of the blog. I am going to keep plugging away at developing my thesis proposal, but if I keep spinning my wheels into August, I may consider putting it off until I take some more classes. I still have one history class and a writing-intensive elective to take, and the lectures, discussions, and assigments for these could help me focus my ideas and methodologies.
According to the Extension School website, the 2005-2006 courses will be posted online in late July. I am interested in seeing what's available.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Xinhua finally becoming a "world news agency"?
For more than 20 years, China's Xinhua News Agency has been trying to become a "world news agency," i.e., an international wire service and news source on a par with AP, Reuters, and AFP.
If you've read Xinhua copy, this may seem unlikely. Xinhua is boring in its choice of news to cover and writing style, has no personality (bylines aren't used), and doesn't even attempt to provide "balance" to news that relates to China and certain foreign news topics.
However, I think Xinhua may have started to get traction in its quest to gain more international stature. The reason is not a change in its standards or an increase in the quality of its reporting, but rather its frequent inclusion in Google News.
Google News is a popular news aggregator, which gathers breaking news and analysis from thousands of news sources. It organizes the news into topics, and then lists the news sources that have articles on that topic. Naturally, a major news story may have hundreds of even thousands of new articles being produced every day, but Google News users tend to visit the ones that are listed at top of the rankings or on the main Google News page. Google, which wants to display a variety of news viewpoints on its news pages, claims the rankings are created through some sort of evolving algorithm, and human editors do not give preference to specific articles, writers, or sources. For this reason, many smaller newspapers and obscure news sources show up on Google News, as well as second and third-tier news agencies in non-English speaking countries, including Xinhua.
In fact, Xinhua news stories seem to appear at or near the top of many news items listed in Google News, even for items that Xinhua doesn't have any reporting expertise in -- European football, breaking "hard" news, the car industry, etc. Looking at the front page of Google News right now (July 7, 12:45 pm EST) I can see Xinhua taking up some very prominent space on this highly-trafficked page:
- Xinhua is the number two source for news about the London terrorism attacks (after the Times Online) and the listed source for the thumbnail picture of the attacks.
- It's the listed source of the thumbnail photo for the jailed reporter story.
- It's the number five source for a deal involving Dell and Napster.
- The photo source for a story about gas therapy for premature infants and the number six source for the news article.
- The number three source for the news about the Philippines president being pressured to step down
- The number six source for a story about Gaza residents receiving compensation.
Interestingly, many of the Xinhua news items cited by Google News aren't even Xinhua's own content, but are copied from other sources. Xinhua's "jailed reporter" photo actually comes from Agence France Presse, and other stories are copied partially or verbatim from other sources: I saw one report on oil prices which was based on a Wall Street Journal story, and the Dell/Napster story came from "Agencies", i.e., AP, Reuters, or AFP.
I don't have access to the traffic data for the Xinhua website, but news sources that get cited in Google News usually get a big spike in traffic when their stories are prominently featured. For smaller newspapers and news sites, a Google News reference can knock out their web servers as many thousands of users beyond their normal readership suddenly try to access news pages. Even if this happens to Xinhua, it is surely enjoying added traffic and stature because of Google News, in a way it never did before.
However, Google News will almost certainly tweak the ranking algorithm in ways that de-emphasize Xinhua; for instance, by giving preference to original news reporting as opposed to recycled news content. If that happens, Xinhua could find itself once again an obscure news agency, longing to join the big leagues.
If you've read Xinhua copy, this may seem unlikely. Xinhua is boring in its choice of news to cover and writing style, has no personality (bylines aren't used), and doesn't even attempt to provide "balance" to news that relates to China and certain foreign news topics.
However, I think Xinhua may have started to get traction in its quest to gain more international stature. The reason is not a change in its standards or an increase in the quality of its reporting, but rather its frequent inclusion in Google News.
Google News is a popular news aggregator, which gathers breaking news and analysis from thousands of news sources. It organizes the news into topics, and then lists the news sources that have articles on that topic. Naturally, a major news story may have hundreds of even thousands of new articles being produced every day, but Google News users tend to visit the ones that are listed at top of the rankings or on the main Google News page. Google, which wants to display a variety of news viewpoints on its news pages, claims the rankings are created through some sort of evolving algorithm, and human editors do not give preference to specific articles, writers, or sources. For this reason, many smaller newspapers and obscure news sources show up on Google News, as well as second and third-tier news agencies in non-English speaking countries, including Xinhua.
In fact, Xinhua news stories seem to appear at or near the top of many news items listed in Google News, even for items that Xinhua doesn't have any reporting expertise in -- European football, breaking "hard" news, the car industry, etc. Looking at the front page of Google News right now (July 7, 12:45 pm EST) I can see Xinhua taking up some very prominent space on this highly-trafficked page:
- Xinhua is the number two source for news about the London terrorism attacks (after the Times Online) and the listed source for the thumbnail picture of the attacks.
- It's the listed source of the thumbnail photo for the jailed reporter story.
- It's the number five source for a deal involving Dell and Napster.
- The photo source for a story about gas therapy for premature infants and the number six source for the news article.
- The number three source for the news about the Philippines president being pressured to step down
- The number six source for a story about Gaza residents receiving compensation.
Interestingly, many of the Xinhua news items cited by Google News aren't even Xinhua's own content, but are copied from other sources. Xinhua's "jailed reporter" photo actually comes from Agence France Presse, and other stories are copied partially or verbatim from other sources: I saw one report on oil prices which was based on a Wall Street Journal story, and the Dell/Napster story came from "Agencies", i.e., AP, Reuters, or AFP.
I don't have access to the traffic data for the Xinhua website, but news sources that get cited in Google News usually get a big spike in traffic when their stories are prominently featured. For smaller newspapers and news sites, a Google News reference can knock out their web servers as many thousands of users beyond their normal readership suddenly try to access news pages. Even if this happens to Xinhua, it is surely enjoying added traffic and stature because of Google News, in a way it never did before.
However, Google News will almost certainly tweak the ranking algorithm in ways that de-emphasize Xinhua; for instance, by giving preference to original news reporting as opposed to recycled news content. If that happens, Xinhua could find itself once again an obscure news agency, longing to join the big leagues.
Vacation/ALM meeting
Taking a break from posting for the next week or so, as our family goes on vacation. I am not bringing any research-related materials, a laptop, or anything else related to school or work -- we haven't been on vacation for over a year, and we really need a break!
However, once I get back, I will get back into my studies. I also intend to go to the ALM thesis writer's meeting at the Extension School on August 1. There's an earlier one on July 11, I believe, but for obvious reasons I won't be able to make that one.
However, once I get back, I will get back into my studies. I also intend to go to the ALM thesis writer's meeting at the Extension School on August 1. There's an earlier one on July 11, I believe, but for obvious reasons I won't be able to make that one.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Learning about history through movies
I watched "The Last Samurai" last night. I am sure a lot of Japanophiles ripped this apart when it came out for various historical and cultural inaccuracies, starting with the fact that it was filmed in New Zealand.
However, I think we have to give credit to Hollywood for at least attempting to educate audiences about American and Japanese history. Yes, it's simplified (and frequently exaggerated) historical detail to a Tom Cruise action movie/melodrama, but it's the only such exposure to this period of Japanese history that tens of millions of people will ever receive. And the core historical premise -- that there was a struggle between reformists and traditionalists in Meiji Japan -- has some truth to it, even if it didn't involve an American Civil War veteran joining Japanese samurai rebels in the mountains. I also like to think that it planted the seeds of interest in Japanese culture and/or the study of history in a few hundred young minds scattered across the globe.
I am not the first person to recognize the power of movies to educate people about history; Professor Don Ostrowski of the Extension School organizes after-class movie showings of dramas and documentaries that help illustrate whatever topic his World History lectures concentrate on in a particular week. Find out more about his classes here.
However, I think we have to give credit to Hollywood for at least attempting to educate audiences about American and Japanese history. Yes, it's simplified (and frequently exaggerated) historical detail to a Tom Cruise action movie/melodrama, but it's the only such exposure to this period of Japanese history that tens of millions of people will ever receive. And the core historical premise -- that there was a struggle between reformists and traditionalists in Meiji Japan -- has some truth to it, even if it didn't involve an American Civil War veteran joining Japanese samurai rebels in the mountains. I also like to think that it planted the seeds of interest in Japanese culture and/or the study of history in a few hundred young minds scattered across the globe.
I am not the first person to recognize the power of movies to educate people about history; Professor Don Ostrowski of the Extension School organizes after-class movie showings of dramas and documentaries that help illustrate whatever topic his World History lectures concentrate on in a particular week. Find out more about his classes here.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
China and CNN World Report
Despite the holiday weekend, I did manage to get some work done, reading several journal articles on Chinese media and taking notes. One of the articles was "What does China want the world to know: A content analysis of CNN World Report sent by the People's Republic of China," by X.L. Yu, in Gazette: The International Journal for Communication Studies (Vol. 58 [1996] pp 173-187). Yu performed a content analysis on PRC-submitted television news clips to CNN World Report before and after the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident.
This journal article intrigued me, because the purpose of these television reports, like Xinhua's English-language wire service, is to promote China to a foreign audience. Yu found that before June 1989, PRC-submitted video consisted mostly of stories about economic development as well as some stories about local politics. There seemed to be a mixture of "supportive" and "critical" stories. This, the author says, is in line with the emphasis in the 1980s on economic progress and openness.
But in the three years following Tiananmen, the focus of the reports shifted almost entirely to stories about Chinese government officials holding meetings and greeting foreign diplomats, very few of which were rated "critical." The author's conclusion: The PRC-submitted clips to CNN World Report wanted to show the world that it was still part of the international community despite humanitarian sanctions.
Interestingly, Yu had his graduate student coders rate PRC-submitted reports to CNN World Report in the year 1994 as well. The emphasis seemingly reverted to economic stories, with a mix of supportive and critical editorial stances. Yu interpreted this as a sign that China's leaders were more pragmatic about the purpose of the propaganda submitted to CNN, in line with China's real-world struggles to modernize.
However, I wondered if Chinese journalists working for China Central Television (CCTV, the organ that produces the clips for CNN World Report) felt confident enough to crawl out from under the thumb of the censors, either because five years had elapsed and the memories of Tiananmen were dimming, or there was a personnel reshuffle in CCTV, propaganda organs, or the central government itself which allowed for comparitively more journalistic freedom.
This journal article intrigued me, because the purpose of these television reports, like Xinhua's English-language wire service, is to promote China to a foreign audience. Yu found that before June 1989, PRC-submitted video consisted mostly of stories about economic development as well as some stories about local politics. There seemed to be a mixture of "supportive" and "critical" stories. This, the author says, is in line with the emphasis in the 1980s on economic progress and openness.
But in the three years following Tiananmen, the focus of the reports shifted almost entirely to stories about Chinese government officials holding meetings and greeting foreign diplomats, very few of which were rated "critical." The author's conclusion: The PRC-submitted clips to CNN World Report wanted to show the world that it was still part of the international community despite humanitarian sanctions.
Interestingly, Yu had his graduate student coders rate PRC-submitted reports to CNN World Report in the year 1994 as well. The emphasis seemingly reverted to economic stories, with a mix of supportive and critical editorial stances. Yu interpreted this as a sign that China's leaders were more pragmatic about the purpose of the propaganda submitted to CNN, in line with China's real-world struggles to modernize.
However, I wondered if Chinese journalists working for China Central Television (CCTV, the organ that produces the clips for CNN World Report) felt confident enough to crawl out from under the thumb of the censors, either because five years had elapsed and the memories of Tiananmen were dimming, or there was a personnel reshuffle in CCTV, propaganda organs, or the central government itself which allowed for comparitively more journalistic freedom.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Questions from a prospective Harvard Extension School student
I have been having an email exchange with a prospective student of the ALB program (Harvard Extension School's undergraduate degree). Although I am an ALM candidate, I had a lot of interaction with ALB students. Lecture classes allow both undergraduate and graduate students to attend, albeit with different coursework and writing responsibilties. In addition, I have several former colleagues who got an ALB degree, or were in the process of getting one, so I heard a lot about the program from them. In any case, the email exchange might help others who are considering coming to the Harvard Extension School:
I guess my first specific question is: How did you find the program to be in terms of quality of instruction and rigor?
The quality has always been good, in the seven classes I have taken. These are taught by Harvard professors, or Harvard-affiliated researchers, and sometimes Harvard PhDs. For the one class that I took in which the prof did not have any Harvard affiliation (beyond his Extension School association), he was a professor at Boston College and the recognized leading expert in his field (Thomas O'Connor, who until last year taught the History of Boston).
The level of rigor has been mixed. Three classes I took were extremely difficult, in terms of reading, writing, and discussion. Of those three, two were seminar classes, and the prof expected you to be able to not only be able to discuss the readings (typically one scholarly book or packet of journal articles per week) but also actively debate some of the ideas and issues.
One of the seven classes I took was not rigorous at all, beyond the final paper and oral presentation, which seems to be required for many of the seminar-style classes, for both ALB and ALM. I know that some of my classmates could have skipped most of the readings and even some of the classes, and as long as they wrote a good paper, they probably got a B.
Since I'm an "adult" learner, my first concern is that I don't enter into a program that grants degrees to anyone with a tuition fee.
No way, this is not the case at the Extension School. For ALB program, and ALM, it is a quality education that really takes a lot of work.
How much flak do you get from the traditional "Harvard" students? My general impression is that they aren't too keen on the part-timers getting degrees with the word Harvard on them.
I think most don't think much about the Extension School; the only time we come into contact is in some lectures and at graduation.
They can complain about part-timers, but you know what? We study under the same professors, do a lot of difficult coursework and research, and have career and family responsibilities to boot. It's true that Harvard College and some of the Harvard's graduate schools have very rigorous admissions criteria, but the Extension School has its own set of criteria (for the ALM program, it's an extremely difficult seminar which requires at least a B to pass). At the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the acceptance rate is around 60%, and they don't even require a thesis to graduate.
Third, how were your classmates? One person commented that some truly weird people are drawn to classes at HES specifically because it's Harvard. As a result, you get some interesting characters in the student population.
You get all kinds of people in the classes. Some may be weird, but all are serious about learning.
One last piece of information I would like to give you is to verify how much previous credit you can carry over to the ALB program. It may not be much ... I remember hearing something about a time limit, and I know they do not accept certain external classwork because there is no equivalent at the Extension School.
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