The second Danwei plenary session at Song. Photo by Marie Wennberg
By Li Fenghua
Danwei, a Web site founded in 2003, held its second plenary session Wednesday at Song, a new popular nightlife venue.
The discussion started at 7:30 pm and about 100 people from varied fields, mostly foreigners, attended.
Speakers such as Steven Lin, an Olympic news editor at Sohu.com, Jonathan Watts from The Guardian, Raymond Zhou, a movie critic, and columnist and Lindsey Hilsum, International news editor for Britain’s Channel 4 News and the current China correspondent, were invited to lead the discussion.CNN’s Beijing Bureau chief and correspondent, Jaime A. FlorCruz,was on the list but he could not attend due to sudden reporting commitments.
The discussion began with the topic of western news coverage of China with the upcoming Olympics. Such questions as the fairness of Western news coverage, how biased some news coverage is and the effects of new media, such as blogs, TV news, newspapers and other traditional media were discussed.
The Western speakers expressed their views about their coverage and the Chinese government’s policy. Speakers also shared their experience of reporting in China.
Many audience members hoped for better provision of statistics during media reporting, Watts, from The Guardian, suggested looking for more resources.
“This generation has more channels through which to speak their mind than any other generation. They sould feel happier than any other,” Raymond Zhou said.The discussion went on for about one hour and was followed by cocktails, snacks and networking. Danwei will hold another event in April.
