NY Times and WSJ Finally Cover Microsoft Shutdown of Chinese Blogger

Both the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal finally covered Microsoft's shutdown of Chinese blogger Zhao Jing, aka Michael Anti.

Clearly, both papers have followed the story in blogs, but were loathe to credit bloggers as news sources.

Blogs have been debating the situation for months, but the two papers of record issued their stories because Brooke Richardson, MSN's lead product manager, confirmed and defended the company's action in an official company statement yesterday. Most mainstream media has since picked up the story.

The Times noted that bloggers have been discussing the issue, quoting Microsoft's Robert Scoble. The Journal ignored bloggers in its story, although it noted that "Many Chinese bloggers say it is difficult to find a reliable blog server host overseas because a bad post by another blogger using the same system can cause the government to block access to the entire server."

Both papers quoted CNN-anchor-turned-blogger Rebecca MacKinnon, identiying her as a research fellow at Harvard, rather than as a blogger.

The controversy began in earnest in June when the Chinese government instructed all Chinese bloggers to register.

Related What's Next Blog posts here and here:

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.