NY Times and WSJ Finally Cover Microsoft Shutdown of Chinese Blogger

Yes, having followed this story from Rebecca's first post, I can understand your point-of-view. But it goes without saying that any story about blogs will appear in the blogs first.

Regarding the "bloggers have been debating the situation for months," note that June 8th New York Times had an article on page A6 China Tightens Restrictions On Bloggers and Web Sites. Indeed the value of the Friday article was that they could get an official spokesman from Microsoft -- something that Rebecca could not get on Tuesday. Of course I value the original blog posts, but I also value the paper of record.

Next, regarding Rebecca's affiliation. You and she are member of the Media Bloggers Association. And I notice how your opinion puts you somewhat at odds with what of MBA President Bob Cox wrote in October: "A person should only be described in the media as a 'blogger' when their media profile is derived primarily from their blog or when their role as 'blogger' specifically informs what they have to say."

Granted, Bob demurred at my suggestion to actually discuss this with the MBA membership and come up with some sort of style recommendations.

But I think, using his formulation, it holds that Rebecca MacKinnon's position as a Harvard research fellow is much more crucial to the story than that of being a blogger. Granted, Bob formed his statement to save the concept of 'blogger' from those who he felt were media professionals parachuting in (Jarvis, Huffington, etc.). In addition, Rebecca's style is not merely that of copy-and-paste blogging; her posts over the year have more resembled original research.