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Cyber star Ai
Qingqing |
Yang knows full well the demands
in this era of Net entertainment, and looks for attractive cyberspace projects
that everybody can take part in, such as the "paperclip for house show".
"These events entertain people and give companies an opportunity to promote
their products, and often a cyber star is born as a by-product," he says.
Official figures show that by the end of last year China had 137 million
Internet users; they would increase to 200 million by 2010. The cyber world has
become crucial for enterprises that want to promote their products and for gold
diggers, such as Ai Qingqing. And if events on the Net are big or interesting
enough, they are bound to draw the traditional media.
Net surfing has become an integral part of journalism today, says Jin
Lingyun, a senior editor with the Beijing Times, which covered the "paperclip
for house show" along with a large section of the media, including China Central
Television (CCTV) and Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television. "When we
choose news from the Net, however, our rules state that the event must really
have happened and the identities of the main figures are clear."
Jin initially doubted the authenticity of the "paperclip for house show", but
many other media had already run stories on it. "If we hadn't reported it while
our competitors were doing so, we would have lost some of our readers," Jin
says.
Soon newspapers and TV channels were competing with each other to establish
Ai's fame. But in the end, they woke up to the fact that they had been
hoodwinked. "What has happened will
harm our newspaper's reputation even if, in the end, we did help readers realize
that the whole thing was a con job."
When Jin and his colleagues reviewed the episode, they realized that they had
failed to follow their own rules. "We did not establish the identities of the
people who were exchanging the goods with the girl." Working against deadline
made it difficult for his news team to check out each character of the play
individually, he says.
Chen Changfeng, a professor with the Peking University's School of Journalism
and Communications, says the episode reflects the fierce market competition.
"The media need advertising revenue and to attract advertisers they must have
sufficient readers and viewers. Which means they are always on the lookout for
eye-catching news. Cyber promoters capitalize on this."
Jin Lingyun believes the traditional media will be much more careful in the
future in dealing with Internet news.
But Yang Xiuyu is unrepentant, and says he would continue to target the
Internet market. "The traditional media will get trapped again. You know, anyone
can become a promoter and create a story on the Internet," he says with a
grin.
（China Daily
）
Vocabulary:
hoodwinked :
欺騙
（英語點津陳蓓編輯）
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