Chicago Tribune: Bloggers post updates from Capitol Hill hearings
Post
Bloggers post updates from Capitol Hill hearings, Eric Benderoff, Tribune staff reporter, February 15, 2006
Using new media to promote the virtues of freedom in cyberspace, a handful of bloggers were invited into the room to report on Wednesday's Capitol Hill hearings on the activities of American Internet companies in China.
Bloggers from five organizations, including a political Web sites, Redstate.org, and the New York Times, posted updates from the hearings as they happened in Washington, D.C.
While organizers of the U.S. House of Representatives' hearings on U.S. Internet companies in China were careful about calling this the first time bloggers reported live from a Congressional hearing, it was a first for the Committee on International Relations.
Allowing bloggers "challenges the traditional views about what constitutes `the media'," said Sam Stratman, communications director for U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill). Hyde is chairman of the International Relations Committee, which held the hearings.
"We now have this entirely new force," Stratman said. "Armies of citizen journalists." The bloggers were cordoned off in a corner of the hearing room at the Rayburn House Office Building to accommodate their needs. "We don't have Wi-Fi yet," Stratman said, so the bloggers needed to plug into phone lines.
The bloggers acknowledged their position on "bloggers row"-one even posted a picture of the view-and provided links to the blogs of the other participants.
The impact of this relatively new medium was poignant considering the hearing's subject: U.S. Internet companies' operating procedures in China.
The companies at the hearing-Google Inc. Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc.-have been accused by human rights organizations and politicians of complicity with Chinese authorities for filtering Internet content and assisting in handing over e-mails that have lead to imprisonment of Chinese dissidents.
To illustrate the dramatic differences in what Chinese citizens see at Google.cn-Google's China-based search site-compared to the American version at Google.com, U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), who chaired Wednesday's hearing, displayed an image from a search of the phrase "Tiananmen Square" on both sites.
At Google.com, several versions of the famed image of a column of tanks halted before a protestor dominated the 20 photos that popped up on the first page.
At Google.cn, the images included children playing and typical snapshots of visiting tourists. Not a single image of the deadly 1989 protests appeared because the Chinese government censors all references to the incident.
Redstate.org posted Smith's comparison, along with Google's position on how it developed the Chinese search service. Google's comments included "being responsive to local conditions."
Another blogger, Tim Chapman from Townhall.com, posted the opening statement from U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), in which he showed a video of a Falun Gong member beaten for his beliefs. Chapman posted his video from the hearings of Rohrabacher's video being shown. "The video tells most of the story but I stopped recording right before Rohrabacher called the man a hero and he received an ovation," Chapman wrote.
Like most blogs, readers were encouraged to comment on the proceedings. Comments at Redstate.org ranged from calling the Internet companies "hypocrites" to how the Chinese government is playing American companies like "violins."
The bloggers played off each other throughout the day, but it was clear that the postings by Redstate's Clayton, who only provides one name, were the most detailed. Other bloggers acknowledged this, with Chapman encouraging readers to link to Redstate.org for details of company positions.
The postings were rough and quickly compiled but allowed for a unique glimpse into the political process. Unlike most blog postings, Wednesday's reports were light on the usual Red state vs. Blue state commentary common of political sites. That is likely because the postings were on the fly, with the bloggers acting more like reporters than commentators.
But Clayton, whose site calls itself a Republican community weblog, did take this shot at the Democrats over the National Security Agency's recently acknowledged domestic eavesdropping:
"To every one of the Democrat committee members in today's hearing that compared the NSA wiretapping to the evil, oppressive human rights violations in China, shame on you. We enjoy near limitless freedoms in this country, and we pay a small price in privacy for our security. A price which most citizens are glad to pay."
At a hearing probing American practices in a non-democratic society, the freedom to comment was on full display.
Using new media to promote the virtues of freedom in cyberspace, a handful of bloggers were invited into the room to report on Wednesday's Capitol Hill hearings on the activities of American Internet companies in China.
Bloggers from five organizations, including a political Web sites, Redstate.org, and the New York Times, posted updates from the hearings as they happened in Washington, D.C.
While organizers of the U.S. House of Representatives' hearings on U.S. Internet companies in China were careful about calling this the first time bloggers reported live from a Congressional hearing, it was a first for the Committee on International Relations.
Allowing bloggers "challenges the traditional views about what constitutes `the media'," said Sam Stratman, communications director for U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill). Hyde is chairman of the International Relations Committee, which held the hearings.
"We now have this entirely new force," Stratman said. "Armies of citizen journalists." The bloggers were cordoned off in a corner of the hearing room at the Rayburn House Office Building to accommodate their needs. "We don't have Wi-Fi yet," Stratman said, so the bloggers needed to plug into phone lines.
The bloggers acknowledged their position on "bloggers row"-one even posted a picture of the view-and provided links to the blogs of the other participants.
The impact of this relatively new medium was poignant considering the hearing's subject: U.S. Internet companies' operating procedures in China.
The companies at the hearing-Google Inc. Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc.-have been accused by human rights organizations and politicians of complicity with Chinese authorities for filtering Internet content and assisting in handing over e-mails that have lead to imprisonment of Chinese dissidents.
To illustrate the dramatic differences in what Chinese citizens see at Google.cn-Google's China-based search site-compared to the American version at Google.com, U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), who chaired Wednesday's hearing, displayed an image from a search of the phrase "Tiananmen Square" on both sites.
At Google.com, several versions of the famed image of a column of tanks halted before a protestor dominated the 20 photos that popped up on the first page.
At Google.cn, the images included children playing and typical snapshots of visiting tourists. Not a single image of the deadly 1989 protests appeared because the Chinese government censors all references to the incident.
Redstate.org posted Smith's comparison, along with Google's position on how it developed the Chinese search service. Google's comments included "being responsive to local conditions."
Another blogger, Tim Chapman from Townhall.com, posted the opening statement from U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), in which he showed a video of a Falun Gong member beaten for his beliefs. Chapman posted his video from the hearings of Rohrabacher's video being shown. "The video tells most of the story but I stopped recording right before Rohrabacher called the man a hero and he received an ovation," Chapman wrote.
Like most blogs, readers were encouraged to comment on the proceedings. Comments at Redstate.org ranged from calling the Internet companies "hypocrites" to how the Chinese government is playing American companies like "violins."
The bloggers played off each other throughout the day, but it was clear that the postings by Redstate's Clayton, who only provides one name, were the most detailed. Other bloggers acknowledged this, with Chapman encouraging readers to link to Redstate.org for details of company positions.
The postings were rough and quickly compiled but allowed for a unique glimpse into the political process. Unlike most blog postings, Wednesday's reports were light on the usual Red state vs. Blue state commentary common of political sites. That is likely because the postings were on the fly, with the bloggers acting more like reporters than commentators.
But Clayton, whose site calls itself a Republican community weblog, did take this shot at the Democrats over the National Security Agency's recently acknowledged domestic eavesdropping:
"To every one of the Democrat committee members in today's hearing that compared the NSA wiretapping to the evil, oppressive human rights violations in China, shame on you. We enjoy near limitless freedoms in this country, and we pay a small price in privacy for our security. A price which most citizens are glad to pay."
At a hearing probing American practices in a non-democratic society, the freedom to comment was on full display.
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