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Chinese netizens

It's a contradiction on many levels. In the West newspapers are closing down at rate of knots. The debate continues whether bloggers can fill the void. Many don't see that "serious" blogs can offer an alternative to mainstream newspapers.

Look to China, and things are quite different to what we would imagine - as the Columbia Journalism Review records in "Chinese Chess Mate":

"The resourceful ways that Chinese netizens have responded to the social injustices that surround them and to the limitations of their country’s carefully censored press, and indeed the sheer pace of change in this world, highlight one of the fundamental complexities of characterizing the situation of expression in China. For instance, it is becoming ever clearer that China’s online community is providing a more robust example of the full potential and sheer relevance of what we call the “citizen journalist” than exists in many rich, liberal societies. This, despite the fact of determined, even stern political control of the press that is often emphasized in the West."

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