More Links for Reading on the Earthquake

Authors

Date of this Version

5-15-2008

Document Type

Article

Citation

May 15, 2008 in The China Beat http://www.thechinabeat.org/

Comments

Copyright May 15, 2008. Used by permission.

Abstract

1. This BBC “Day in History” piece gives a feel for how the 1976 earthquake was covered.

2. Shanghaiist, which has had coherent as-it-happened coverage since Monday, has a feature of side-by-side Youtube clips of coverage from Al Jazeera, AP, and others. The Al Jazeera report, by Melissa Chan, receives a well-deserved nod fromShanghaiist. (You can view more of Chan’s reports for Al Jazeera here, here, andhere. They are filled with unique footage.)

3. Wieland Wagner’s opinion piece for Der Spiegel contrasts Wen Jiabao’s megaphone-amplified voice (the prime minister has been touring disaster areas to comfort victims) with the political voicelessness of the Chinese people.

4. The Far Eastern Review sums up the role of new technologies in spreading the quake’s stories (mentioning, in particular, the continued crisis at the quake’s epicenter in Wenchuan; for more on Wenchuan, see here). For information on how the story is being covered by domestic media, keep tabs through China Media Project’s promised on-going analysis.

5. On the web: The Opposite End of China encourages nationalist netizens to turn their energies against the Westboro Baptist Church (which has, in its style, posted a notice that the earthquake is God’s judgment against China), Blogging for Chinaposts several firsthand accounts from Sichuan, and EastSouthNorthWest offers one of the most complete photo galleries on the web (many of these are quite graphic). Another photo gallery can be found here.