“This is pretty special in terms of letting a lot of reporting happen” — China eases internet controls and allows uncensored images of the earthquake’s toll. On QQ, video of a town destroyed. A video of Wen Jiabao on the megaphone encouraging survivors. The NY Times reports him saying, “I am Grandpa Wen Jiabao. Hold on, kids! You will definitely be rescued,” as local officials protect him from the true death toll. And at tudou.com, more video and more and more. Chinese columnist Chang Ping argues boldly for freedom of information during the crisis: “I confess that I’m worrying about my relatives on the one hand and the police on the other.” (And in the original Chinese.) From NY Times, U.S. spy photos find no problems at Mianyang’s nuclear weapons plants. Says an American who once toured them, “All the Chinese I met in the program were really brilliant… So I think they do it the right way. I hope.” A CNN citizen-reporter rides a motorcycle from Chengdu to Dujiangyan and finds chaos. “Only upside was a girl discovered a freezer with ice cream that had not thawed. Small miracle.”
Killed — BBC: 12,000+ / New Yorker: 13,000+
Missing — BBC: 60,000.
Countries offering assistance — BBC: US, UK, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan
Help:
Red Cross Society of China
Oxfam Hong Kong
Oxfam USA ❑
Filed In Week In Review // On May 15, 2008 //
