Based on feedback and research, I have decided to contract the topic "The State of the PRC Press in New Century", which is still so attractive to me, but due to limited human and financial resources, I am afraid of lack of depth in terms of theme and project development. Now, I am to focus on the jailed journalists: their journalistic experience, and the charges against them, and what exact event led them to jail.
(1)WHY: The reasons for choosing this topic are simple: a professional journalist for a decade of working experience in Asia, Africa and America, I would like to share with the general public (
the target audience) my understanding of journalism in Communist China, which is claimed to be a People's Republic of China, but actually merely "the Party Representatives of China" a term I coined for its own nature, as it is never a republic, because people are never allowed to exercise their legitimate rights, and only Party officials have and maintain the rights for themselves since its establishment. Today it is still ruled by only one political party-the Communist Party, where t
he press is under the control of the Party and the government. Journalists who try to seek truth and play the role of watchdog in the interest of the public, often end up behind bars.
It serve the interest of journalism itself, and general public of the world community, to shed spotlight on the fate of journalist who follow their hearts in (the Party Representatives of) China, which claims to have seen economic growth at a double-digit rate, and which is viewed by the outsiders to become a world leader in many fields in the coming decades (before its doomsday, like the USSR?).
Will the world benefit from the development of such an authoritarian regime with growing wealth that disrespects such universal values as
human rights and democracy, serves the interest of the ruling Party and elite groups rather than the "proles", and supports other authoritarian regimes such as Cuba, North Korea, Iran, to name a few?
(2)WHAT: If journalists cannot practice their craft the way they should, and often get punished, getting fired, getting in jail, for their professional work, what is it like to be a journalist in that country? What is the state of the press in today's (PR)China? How does the government and the Communists control the press and the journalists? What are journalists doing in day-to-day work? What happened to those journalists who tried to perform their roles?
(3)HOW: I would take advantage of multimedia tools to show the reality of the working environment, by interviewing journalists, both local and international, working in that country, and experts on the Chinese press, and post texts, photos, audio, and video materials (and perhaps cartoons).
With interactive map technologies, readers and viewers can track the tragedies of journalists who were arrested and/or beaten for their reporting, and where these sites are, and when and how these happened, particularly, those behind bars for their journalistic work.
Data mining technologies will help readers/viewers find out stories of those jailed journalists (24 as of December 31, 2009, according to
CPJ).
The website will be designed and developed in a reader/viewer-friendly way, with community function, allowing them to contribute their writings, subscribe to RSS, leave their comments, Twitter their favorite material, share on their FACEBOOK, Yahoo Buzz, Digg, and so on.
The above is a third revised draft incorporating feedbacks from peers for further inside and outside classroom discussions. Many thanks for your interest and thoughtful tips.
I look forward to hearing from my classmates and professors and the general public who come across this project idea.
Again, I really appreciate your time and interest.
