Nieman curator Bob Giles writes about the difficulties Chinese blogger Michael Anti is having publishing under his preferred name. Anti, a 2008 Nieman Fellow whose government-recorded name is Zhao Jing, has used his pen name professionally for years. That changed quickly in January however, when Facebook cancelled his account without warning and deleted all his contacts, due to a “real name policy.” The Committee to Protect Journalists describes the move as complicit with “China’s growing attempt to stifle the free flow of news and opinion.” Read more
Michael Anti, Class of 2008, recently returned from Germany, where he served on the jury of the Best of the Blogs awards. There he talked with blogger Ethan Zuckerman about how Chinese internet has gone “back to the old years.” Read more