Blog credibility thread: Chinablogs

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Blog credibility thread: Chinablogs
http://chinayouren.com/eng/2009/03/blog-credibility-thread-legitimacy-of-china-blogs/

Written by uln on March 5th, 2009

Ever since I opened this blog the problem of credibility has been in the back of my mind. These days, the comments of a tenacious part-time troll, as well as some recent events that shook the Chinosphere have brought back the subject to the top of my agenda.

It is well known that Chinablogs (defined as blogs about China in English) are only a tiny part of the Chinese internet, and their readership is insignificant compared to their Chinese counterparts. But it would be a mistake to dismiss them as irrelevant. For some time already, especially after last year’s  events - Tibet revolts and the Olympic torch saga were a turning point -  readers from all sides have questioned the media’s impartiality regarding Chinese politics. Just or not, the fact is that these accusations have cast a doubt, and many have turned to blogs to try to find an independent point of view.

Some things make me suspect that the influence of Chinablogs in shaping the World opinion about China is significant, and rapidly growing. The famous #cde affair, where a well known entrepreneur and blogger in China caused the RMB/dollar exchange to move after a post on his blog, forcing the Chinese government to issue an official notice, confirmed this idea. Also, the world media sending some of their best writers to China, not to become correspondents as used to be the case, but to open a blog and speak about what they  see outside their window - among other things.  Blog sceptics might want to look at this Boston Globe article to see just how influential blogs can become.

And here is where my question comes in: what legitimates  Chinabloggers to give opinions about this country, its politics, economy and other fields that affect the well being of billions of people?  Where does our credibility lie? Are we misrepresenting ourselves as experts in China without any serious basis?

My take: Intelligent bloggers or intelligent readers?

Although there are exceptions, the majority of blogs commenting on Chinese economy and politics are not written by specialists with credentials in the field. In the same way as the majority of newspaper articles commenting on a wide array of subjects are written by journalists, not by specialists.

It is precisely the mission of a journalist - and I suppose, of a blogger too- to collect complex information, digest it and come up with a product that the general public cares to read and understand. Most of the news worth commenting cover many different fields of knowledge so, even if they wanted to,  specialists in one single field would be ill-prepared to write a good opinion article on current affairs.

There is a difference, however, between newspaper editorials and blog posts. The former are supported by an author and a company’s reputation, built over many years, and they have to follow certain rules of the trade.Bloggers are not subject to these restrictions, and, understandably, some people want to question their credibility.
Especially in China, where there’s a permanent unbalance in the market of experts - demand  growing faster than supply- it is enough to be a vocal writer to grab  a slice of the cake and pontify freely. Perhaps the best example is this recent fashion of predicting where and when the crisis is going, and how it will affect the political system. Forgetting to specify that it is just a guess or, in the best of cases, an educated “feeling”.

SIDENOTE: But you’d  have to be very naive to believe economists are any better at that. When it comes to predicting the future,  experience on the ground can be as useful as years of  reading (often contradictory) books  on economics. The most respected economists are famous for failing disastrously in their predictions, and even the Nobel Foundation has cleverly adapted its strategy to protect itself from the effects of dismalness: now they award the prize only after the predictions have turned true, not before. CLOSE SIDENOTE

So we see that many blogs commenting on important matters have no solid basis to support their statements: no famous business experience, no dangling rolls of diplomas, no reputable newspaper backing them. And yet I am convinced that a reader with common sense can get a more accurate picture of the current events in China reading blogs than by any other means.

As an active reader of Chinablogs, these points I present to support my statement:

• Precisely because there are no other credentials, a blog post has to stand on its own. It has to offer solid arguments and links to support itself.

• Links can be immediately checked; arguments immediately overturned.  A post is subject to the scrutiny of thousands of readers, and few miss the chance to score one where it hurts.

• In this environment there is a natural selection process. A critical reader doesn’t follow the blogs of the majority, but those where he finds open discussion adding value to the content.

• There is a team work with the comments and with other blogs picking the subject. The collaboration of the many has always been more fruitful than the work of a genius. This is true in almost every field, art and literature being perhaps the only exception.

• The blog has freed us of the tyranny of lifelong experts. No diplomas, contacts or years of experience can help you if you publish nonsense. On the internet, nobody knows you are a dog, but you are quick to become one if you bark online.

• A reader of blogs typically switches among more different sources and is able to compare far more different points of view more than a reader of any other medium.

That’s all for the moment, sorry for the longish post. Feel free to discuss here -and not in other posts- all aspects regarding credibility of China blogs. Trolls are welcome as long as they stay on topic. The objective is to speak in general of Chinablogs, not necessarily about ULN (but feel free as well if you wish to discuss this passionating subject)
And if you are still not tired of reading, some boring info after the fold.


Something about ULN

Let’s admit it, the intro section of this blog gives little information about me, other than the proven fact that I am not called Lilly. And I know from what I have read on other blogs that some people attach great importance to a name and a face, and that in their eyes a blogger signing ULN must be little more than an electronic scoundrel.
I can understand these feelings. Nothing would make me prouder than to stick my picture and my name at the top of each page, because I am not ashamed of what I write and I am ready to stand for each of my statements. Nor is mine a full anonymity, as I know and I am known (with my real name) by many people in the China blogging community.

So why continue hiding behind a pseudonym? Simple:  I like writing about subjects that have the potential to excite large numbers of people. Today I represent a company in China, and this company is not mine to decide its political stance.  There is a real risk of clients associating my blog with my company if my name gets spread all over the Chinosphere - it has happened to other bloggers before-  and due to the kind of clients I deal with, I cannot allow this to happen.

So if you don’t mind, and until the next horde of fenqing decide to flesh-seach and chop up Uln, I will keep my semi-anonymity. But since we are speaking of “credentials”, I want to unveil the following points about me, just to ensure that nobody takes me for what I am not:

• I am an engineer, but I have a Master in Business and a Semi-Master in International Relations (Didn’t get the degree because I found a job and never found the time to finish the thesis, but I will be back).

• I like reading a lot, books. Sometimes even uni course books, like my famous brick: Samuelson’s economics. Because of my focus-challenged nature I have always learnt more from my own readings than from what I heard in a classroom, even when I had remarkably good teachers.

• I have been in China for 2-3 years, including Beijing in 2002 and now  Shanghai. I haven’t stopped for a day speaking about politics with all the Chinese I’ve meet. That probably explains my poor results with the “delicate” sex.

• My work experience and “achievements” include weird and unconnected points such as: winning a national poetry contest in France, writing and performing songs with guitar and harp, spending 1+ year living and coordinating a project in 5 different provinces of North Korea, and others even more irrelevant.

• And finally, the most exciting: my Chinese qualifications. My level is already enough to read books in Chinese, the last book I read was XiongDi by Yu Hua, and I absolutely recommend it. I am aiming at HSK 7,  signed up for  the next test session in April and then I will publish the results on a post.

Voila,  I don’t think any of the points above provides a serious basis to support my comments on Chinese politics and economy, so I am safe from self-satisfaction. My posts will all need to stand on their own, and when they don’t please point it out. Same when I “invent” words and phrases that don’t exist in English.
And I will leave this info hidden behind the fold of a single post instead of updating my profile info. Because I only want to say these things to those readers that had the patience to read all this way.

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