Episode 13 – with guest Dan Patterson

In this episode we welcome special guest Dan Patterson, of Creepy Sleepy, Talk Radio News Service, and soon ABC News.

A friend of Dan’s, who is also an acquaintance of some of us here at Push My Follow, Brian Conley, was detained with five others in Beijing on August 18 during a protest backed by FreeTibet2008.org. Brian is best known for producing Alive in Baghdad, which puts video cameras in the hands of Iraqi citizens so they can share their stories. In a statement Brian’s wife Eowyn Rieke says,

If you haven’t heard yet, Brian was among 6 people recently arrested in Beijing, China while traveling to cover pro-Tibet demonstrations. We believe his arrest and detention (now over 3 days) are a direct result of his work as a journalist and his commitment to reporting on people’s struggles. Of course, a repressive and authoritarian Chinese government doesn’t help much either.

Dan is regularly posting updates on his site, please visit there and help spread the word, particularly if you have access to major media outlets. At this writing there has been no communication from Brian and the other detainees since Monday.

In this episode we also discuss “citizen journalism,” what it is, what role it plays, is it a good thing or not? Dan also talks about his upcoming stints covering the Democratic and Republican Conventions, and strongly recommends that you check out The Brookhaven Chronicles.

*Update August 24* We’ve received word that Brian Conley and 7 other detainees have been released and are headed back home.

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5 thoughts on “Episode 13 – with guest Dan Patterson

  1. Pingback: China Bloggers Arrested. Why are we surprised?

  2. Earlier in the games the Chinese authorities were arresting a lot of people – there was a guy from ITN (UK News) who was arrested among a group of protesters even though he was nothing to do with them. He wasn’t allowed to show them his ID and he got his hand stamped on while being arrested. It was on the BBC news site at the beginning of the Olympics.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7557771.stm

    I think the Chinese authorities were expecting a lot of it and thought, yes you can protest and yes we will throw you in jail for a few days. Then we will let you out and deport you.

    I think part of it depends on how new media savvy the authorities are. If they know about this guy and how he reports in known hotspots then they might think he had a bit more of an intent to be there and stir up something. That being said the freetibet people have had a planned campaign throughout these Olympics and it must be difficult for the authorities to know if these people are terrorists who could hurt other people visiting these games or peaceful protesters.

    Given that the official press their had their internet freedom compromised I wouldn’t have expected anyone to have an easy time of it in China. I guess though that sometimes it takes ‘citizen journalism’ to report on this stuff as many of the professional news groups would have had their hands tied without compromising their ability to report on the Olympics themselves which would be a significant investment for many news corporations covering the games.

  3. Pingback: The Dangers Of Citizen Journalism | How To Split An Atom

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