U.K.: Waning power of the UN

Chicken Yoghurt scoffs at the UN in a post in response to an article about the UN's scolding of the U.S. for not sharing intelligence about North Korea's aid to Syria in building a nuclear reactor. The blogger specifically attacks Mohamed ElBaradei, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, by suggesting that he not do his job by getting involved. The blogger writes that ElBaradei should have realized that the precedent set by Hans Blix several years earlier was for the UN to remain somewhat hands-off when it comes to American Republican governments and their plans for squelching nuclear weapon development in the hands of other countries.

The blogger, Justin McKeating, takes an ironic tone, and even as he is criticizing ElBaradei, he is agreeing with him that this is something the UN should be monitoring. McKeating has the freedom to criticize institutions such as the UN without considering political alliances, and because he is not bound to commenting on completely relevant things, he can bring up old news such as Hans Blix without having to worry about being unbiased.

U.K.: Olympic torch in Japan

The Times of London reports on the Olympic torch relay in Japan, after the torch passed through Nagano with little incident other than a "clash" between pro-Tibetan protesters and Chinese students. The article mentions the legs that remain of the relay, as well as the way in which Nagano handled the security (using their own guards instead of the Chinese ones, which was a contentious choice when it came to light a couple weeks ago). Other than these two items, though, the article's focus is less on the torch relay than on the political situation regarding Tibet. The article shows the influence of the protesters and all the attention they've been getting on the Chinese government, who "may have" decided to meet with the Dalai Lama's representatives as a result. It goes on to discuss the ways in which the Chinese media are viewing the Tibet situation and to report the responses of Olympics officials and Chinese government officials.

The article uses the now-established frame of the Tibetan struggle for independence to report the latest in the torch relay, but it fleshes out that frame now with more context and balanced responses from different sides of the issue (Olympics officials, government officials, the Chinese media, Chinese political analysts).

U.K.: "Berlusconi's Back!"

Nosemonkey's EUtopia has a bit of fun discussing the re-election of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The blogger lists all the reasons he is excited about Berlusconi being back in power - all of which are to be taken ironically, as the blogger views Berlusconi as having high entertainment value but low political effectiveness. The blogger compares Berlusconi to the previous PM, Romano Prodi, who was "not holding a near monopoly in the Italian media, not trying to blatantly advance his own commercial interests through his high office, [and] not re-writing the country’s electoral laws to give his own party an advantage," among other things.

This is a great example of a blogger who writes just for the sake of providing commentary. There is little research behind his post, and the blogger acknowledges that, as someone who is not Italian, it is difficult for him to understand the details of Italy's election process. Instead, he links to a Reuters article that reports the actual news of Berlusconi's victory and to the international section of Spiegel Online, a German site, which provides a more comprehensive, contextualized analysis of the election. This brings up one difficulty in covering international news: background information. For readers unfamiliar with other countries' governments, it is difficult for news stories to include enough context to the story without introducing bias. Also, readers' appetites for consuming such news may not be as high if they know nothing about the subject (one article we read mentioned that readers who have more background information learn more from a news story). As a result, people with little background knowledge--such as this blogger--rely on easy stereotypes and well-publicized news stories, as Nosemonkey's EUtopia has done.

U.K.: Olympic Torch in India

The Guardian follows the Olympic torch to India today in an article that follows the protest frame that has now become the established form of reporting on this story. The article opens by noting the security restrictions in place and how they "drained [the event] of pomp and circumstance." The Guardian, too, has eliminated anything celebratory from its coverage. It mentions that there were schoolchildren bussed in to cheer on the torchbearers and that several sponsors were disappointed at being barred from getting near the relay path by security, although they were supposed to have access. However, there are no mentions of the athletes who carried the torch (only those who declined to do so), no references to India's Olympic competitors this year, and no background on where the torch was previously or where it is headed to next. Also lacking were comments from any Olympic officials.

What did the article include, then? It was mostly focused on the attempts of protesters to break through the security cordon. One group did, but "...most were met with disproportionate force -- one Tibetan was wrestled to the ground on Indian television by 12 police officers." The article tells of a protest march that began earlier at the site of Mahatma Gandhi's funeral pyre, and it ends with two paragraphs on India's history of political discord with China.

Japan: Comment

Just something I realized when searching for recent goings-on with the Olympic relay:
It's interesting that there are not actuallyy that many blog posts or traditional media articles or reports on the Olympic relay and the protests in many countries around the world. Whenever there is a mention of the Olympics or the relay, it's always after mentioning somethings else such as the Dalai Lama, Tibet, CHina...etc.
Interesting, no?

Japan: Support for Tibet

The Global Voices Blog site had a long post about the Japanese support for Tibet and their opinions about the media and Olympics. The post begins with description by the blogger that soon after the rioting began in Tibet, the Japanese began to express their opinions and interests about the issue. "Tibet" became the most searched topic on Japanese search engines, the blogger reports, and Tibet supporters demonstrated in Tokyo early and mid March. He also notes that the Tibet Support Network Japan (TSNJ)set up a blog where the Japanese have been avid posters. The rest of the post has examples (and translations) of some of the posts. Many of the posts blame the Japanese politicians and media for not drawing enough attention or doing anything regarding Tibet and other "human rights" violations in China. There are also posts with opinions about boycotting the Olympics:

独裁共産国家でのオリンピックに参加することを反対します。
そして中国製品を買うことも控えましょう。
奴隷のように働かされている子供・女達が作ったことを思うと購入を躊躇します。
なぜそのような国に他の国は群がるのでしょう？

(I am against participating in Olympics that are in a country that is a communist dictatorship.
Also let's not buy any goods that are manufactured in China.
I hesitate to buy things when I think that children and women were worked like slaves to make them.
Why do other countries flock around this kind of country?)

Other Japanese bloggers question if the Chinese will actually be able to pull off hosting the Olymics, express their distrurbance by the news, and compare the Beijing Olympics to the Berlin Olympics under Hitler.

Again, it's not really surprising that the Japanese questions and criticize China. Although, unlike the newspaper, the blog follows what one would expect from the Japanese given their negative ties with China as well as their proximity to the area in question. One wonders if there is a correlation with the unbias or balancing attempt by the old media such as newspapers compared to the more free form opinion driven role of blogs.

Japan: Dalai Lama raps torch protests

According to a brief article in the Asahi Newspaper, the Dalai Lama "decried protests in Europe and the United States," that have attempted to interfere with the Olympic torch relay, which ends in Beijing. Then the article describes in more detail that the Dalai Lama does not support the violent protests that occurred in London and Paris; protests, which arose over the rioting in the Dalia Lama's native Tibet. Rather, the Dalai Lama has repeated his support for China to host the summer Olympic Games because it is a good opportunity for change as China wants to make a good impression on the visiting countries.

It is interesting that there is no mention of the Dalai Lama's opinion over the Tibetan Riots. The article that is for once not attributed to a wire service, but written by one of the newspapers own reporters, which may account for its brevity. Not to mention that it is the opposite of what one would expect from a Japanese newspaper. The Japanese have not had a good relations with the Chinese, mostly over the issues surrounding the occupation of China in the period leading up to and through the Second World War. As a result, the Japanese media usually frames China in a negative light. However, this article reports on the Dalai Lama's anti-protest stance and his support for China. Perhaps the reporter wanted to point out the contrast since the protests arose for the sake of the issues of the Dalai Lama's home country and China's reactions to them.

U.K.: Boycotting the Olympics

In "newsblog" on The Guardian's website, Allegra Stratton engages in some light analysis of news on the Olympics that articles in traditional media do not. She draws attention to Hillary Clinton's comment that George W. Bush should follow Gordon Brown and "boycott" the Olympic games opening ceremony. However, Stratton alleges that Brown's absence is likely just another example of the Prime Minister "snubbing" an event. She links to another blog from earlier in the week on The Guardian's website, which also expresses confusion about whether or not Brown is attending the ceremony and if not, the motivation for his absence. She frames her comments in light of other notable absences: Ban Ki Moon's, because of a conflict, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's. Stratton writes, "The pity for Brown is that he's probably not boycotting the games. And he's so in awe of China's economic might, he won't even be able to bask in Clinton's warm words."

The reason traditional media would never make this connection is because her post offers little new information, and her analysis of Brown's reason for not attending is speculation, as far a reader of the blog can tell. She is simply getting more mileage out of a previous post by one of her colleagues on another blog. This leaves one wondering if the requirement that print media journalists contribute online, as well, is something of a waste of time. Their tendency is to use their blogs as means of commenting on their printed stories.

U.K.: Following the Olympic torch

The Times of London reports the latest news on controversy surrounding the Olympic torch relay today. The article is headlined "Diego Maradona refuses to carry Olympic torch," and in the leading paragraphs it explains the athlete meant to begin the relay in Argentina backed out and was replaced with someone else. The rest of the article speculates about the future of the relay and the Olympics opening ceremony. It includes comments from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who will not be attending the opening ceremony due to a "scheduling conflict" and goes on to include comments from a pro-Tibetan Argentinian protester, who nonetheless condemned the idea of a violent protest during the relay. A new development introduced halfway through the article is that the Japanese police will not allow the Chinese security personnel to accompany the torch when it reaches Nagano, as they have been revealed to be part of the Chinese paramilitary police.

Coverage of the relay continues to be presented through an anti-Chinese frame. The paramilitary police are described in a quote as "thugs," and the report that Ban Ki Moon will not be attending the opening ceremony--though not a boycott--seems to be a premature representation of a lack of international support for China as the games' host. However, two consecutive paragraphs try to balance the political messages of the event with its overall significance for the Olympics:

" There was also a sizeable turnout of people from the local Chinese community, who sang hymns in Mandarin and celebrated that the Olympics would be going to Beijing";

followed by "Most of the onlookers appeared to enjoy the spectacle, creating chaos as they ran alongside attempting to catch a glimpse of the flame. Javier Garcia, aged 24 and a student, says: 'I was proud to see the torch pass through my city but I think the Olympics is a symbol of human rights and the Chinese Government must enter into dialogue with the Dalai Lama.'"

In past years, this would probably be treated as sports news. The categorization of such a story as "world news" suggests that the media are interested in drawing out its politicization.

Japan: Traditional News - Global Ratings

I thout it would be interesting to compare the blog post on global ratings with that of a traditional media. The Yomiuri Daily published an article, "Global poll: Japan has most positive influence in world" on the topic two days before the post by the blog. The article starts off with some basic background information on who conducted the survey (BBC and Yomiuri Daily among others), the number of surveyed countries (34), time period of survey (Oct. - Jan.), and the facts behind the title (56% positive ratings vs. 21% negative ratings.)Then the article proceeded to list the ratings of some of the most positive and negative images of other countries. For instance, Germany came in second to Japan, then the EU with 52% positive ratings, followed by Britain and France at 50%. The country with the most negative ratings was Iran with 54%, followed by Israel at 52% and Pakistan at 50%. North Korea also had fairly negative ratings at 45% and the US had only 35% positive ratings compared to 47% negative. The article finishes off with the data on who though most positively and negatively about Japan, ending with the Japanese's own view of their country.

Note that the this newspaper is the conservative news paper of Japan, thus it makes sense that it would follow the surveys and rankings in favor of Japan as well as focus on Japan even in its so-called international news. However, it is actually fairly neutral in its reporting, a lot more so than the blog. The article lists both positive and negative ratings, while the blog focuses mainly on the negative. Another interesting fact is that the middle east is where most of the negative ratings are focused on and the most positive ratings go to Japan, Germany, and the West. Obviously, Japan and Germany have come a long way in the past half century. Framing wise, the blog had a lot more bias, while the newspaper follows more of a reporting approach.

Japan: Global Ratings

The Observing Japan blog made a interesting note about a recent BBC release of its annual survey to rate how countries are viewed by other countries. Japan was one of the most positively rated countries along with the EU, Russia had one of the largest improvements in ratings, and the US has seen its first turn around from the negative ratings of the previous years. The blog comments Japan has been favorably viewed in just about every country except for China and South Korea. Then it argues that the negativity, which go in all three directions, comes from the deep ties among the three countries. The blgo calls the relationship among the East Asian countries "dense" and "messy," while arguing that it is probably softpower (money and culture) that is the source of Japan's positive ratings among the other countries since the region where Japan is most active in (Northeast Asia) is where it has the most negative ratings. In addition, it also states that Japan's soft power isn't viewed as negatively as during the height of its bubble economy because it is in recession and foreign powers find China a bigger target now. The blog also takes into account the increase in Japan's popularity despite issues over comfort women, whaling, and history. It concludes with the thought that, "Japan is well-liked because it is mostly invisible and entirely harmless to most of the countries surveyed. A more active Japan, a Japan that took sides in important international disputes, would likely be less popular."

This is an interesting article on the results of proximity and ties as well as on influences on image and power. Admittedly, even with Japan's participating and interjections into international politics via the Iraq war and other "peace-keeping missions," it has a tendancy to use more soft power than hard power such as water purification, rebuilding and restoration, education, and foreign investments.

U.K.: NATO and Russia

Nosemonkey's EUtopia blog shows the advantages blogs can have over traditional media in a post this week about the NATO summit currently in progress in Bucharest. The blog begins by summarizing the varied and contradictory viewpoints being offered by other media outlets (a mix of newspapers, radio, and a blog) about the goings-on at the summit. The blogger has the luxury of having the time to step back away from the deadlines of those working for larger media outlets and examine the coverage to determine that it is inconsistent. He also acknowledges that his confusion about what's happening at the NATO summit is likely to persist, saying, "[T]he precise terms of any diplomatic agreement between Russia and the EU, US, NATO or individual European countries - the small print that the journalists rarely have time to scan in their rush to hit deadlines and get an angle that gives the subs a good shot at an interesting headline - that’s where we’ll first spot the changes when they come." As a blogger and an EU policy fanatic (the Wonkette of the EU, one might argue), Nosemonkey is someone who is likely to spot these details if he has access to the relevant documents. All of this analysis of the news that is, for the most part, the unique domain of the blogger allows Nosemonkey to provide a meta-narrative for the news that draws attention to its varied frames.

The irony of the situation is that the writer of Nosemonkey's EUtopia is also exhibiting a rather blatant frame, albeit one disclosed on the "About" section of the blog, which is that of being a pro-EU centrist. After the blogger acknowledges his confusion from trying to follow news of the summit, he turns to his own predictions of how the summit must actually be turning out by spending several paragraphs discussing Russia's increasing influence exerted over the EU. What begins as a discussion of current developments in foreign diplomacy ends in speculation over the future of European international relations, but it is a future colored through the lens of the Cold War relationships that Nosemonkey continues to bring up in this post and rework to suit his purposes (i.e., to provide an explanation of why NATO is having a hard time deciding whether to admit other member nations).

U.K.: China and the Olympic Torch

An article in The Guardian today frames its coverage of the Olympics through the lens of controversy by focusing on the protests surrounding the journey of the Olympic torch, rather than the logistics of the journey itself. Eight of the sixteen paragraphs mention protests -- recent, having occurred in recent weeks, or anticipated in the future -- and the other eight provide broadly attributed comments from officials about the plans for the torch relay. The attributed information is fairly neutral, apart from one line that reads, "Organisers hope the route will highlight China's growing ambitions, economic development and openness to the outside world." However, the unattributed paragraphs have a somewhat more critical stance, predicting (on what basis is not stated) that the route will "be dogged by protests." It also notes that this particular route, proclaimed "ambitious" in the first paragraph, will have "a bigger eco-footprint" than past ones. This adds an interesting environmentalist frame; in the past, I can't imagine such observations would have been made if they were not attributed to some particular group's concern.