Twitter or X – does it still matter?

My initial motivation to start using a Twitter account was to draw more attention to this blog. I realized early on that this wouldn’t happen; people on Twitter rarely click links.

All the same, Twitter was a medium to keep reading because it helped me to stay up to date about global politics in general, and about China’s internal affairs (such as international united-front work etc.) just as well.
By now, Twitter has lost much of its luster. I’m not as disappointed or angry as many other users are, because Twitter can still provide a reasonably good feed about current affairs that I’m focusing on, but it’s not nearly as good as it used to be – one of the problems being that many intelligent users are leaving it. And of course, I’m aware that there’s a guy at the wheel who probably has no idea what he’s doing, so I’m using feed readers and search machines far more often again than I used to during the past 3.5 years.

“X” means dead, in German. I suppose it can mean the same thing in English – given that there are those smiley with two “x-ed” eyes. OK, it doesn’t mean “dead” in those smiley cases, it just means “little hope”.
Anyway, the internet is big – Twitter, “X”, whatever, is just a small part of it, and probably a diminuishing one.

On the Whim of an Idiot

Huawei advertising, 2018 (“2019 becomes big thanks to 6.21 inches display”)

Once in a while, I have to update myself, technically, to stay informed about current affairs. In the beginning of my share in the digital age, I had a website, but noticed that only few people would care to write an e-mail to discuss anything. So I switched to blogging, fifteen years ago. Then there were opportunities to take part in discussions and getting answers to questions – for a while. Then the English-language, China-related “blogosphere died down, and everyone moved on to Twitter and other “social media”. I followed the stream in 2020.

I find Twitter rather scary. My use of it serves its purpose, to stay informed about what keeps people busy, but it isn’t really about what they think, but about what they feel. The world according to Twitter is a jitterbug, and a pretty aggressive one at times. For a few months now, it has also had ownership issues (or Musk issues) which have led to a rather unpredictable future of that platform.

Once I had seen a pretty informative microblog from China hacked and all requests to Twitter to restore it ignored, I understood that the numbers of followers you have don’t matter – or shouldn’t, if you look at it reasonably -, because you can see it reduced to zero on the whim of just one idiot.

As far as I’m concerned, blogging on WordPress remains worthwile. Maybe it wouldn’t if I was looking for traffic, trying to make money on advertising, etc. But when you blog, you think. You study. You read. By reading, you “listen” carefully, often to people and messages you disagree with, but whose information is still useful.

You don’t get that on Twitter. It may give you the impression that it is a nice distraction from the daily grind – you can even abscond to your account there for a minute (or more) at your workplace. But you might as well have a few chocolate bars instead, also within a minute.

It would be about as healthy as tweeting.

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Related

The state of Taiwan, Sept 8, 2022
Radio or the Internet, both or neither, June 9, 2020
My first ten days on Twitter, Jan 30, 2020
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Morgulov and Le assess Russian-Chinese Media Cooperation

Headline / Main Link:
Russian ambassador meets National Radio and Television Administration deputy director, promotes cooperation in media field of work, Sputnik.cn, April 21, 2023	俄大使会见中国广电总局副局长，促进媒体领域合作 2023年4月21日, 15:48
Links within blockquotes added during translation.

On April 20, Russian ambassador to China Igor Morgulov met with Chinese National Radio and Television Administration deputy director Le Yucheng.
4月20日，俄罗斯驻华大使伊戈尔•莫尔古洛夫会见了中国国家广播电视总局副局长乐玉成。
The two sides exchanged views about the current status of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of mass media and had a discussion about the implementation process of creating a joint television program as agreed by the two governments during Chinese State Chairman Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia.
双方就俄中在大众传媒领域的合作现状交换了意见，并就今年3月中国国家主席习近平对俄罗斯进行国事访问期间签署的关于共同制作电视节目的政府间协议的实施过程进行了讨论。
The two sides expressed satisfaction with the success in the field of media cooperation so far, including the aspects of news and entertainment programs. They pointed out the need to continuously develop cooperation in the field of new media.
双方对媒体领域的合作成果表示满意，包括新闻和娱乐节目方面。他们指出，有必要在新媒体领域进一步展开合作。
Both sides paid particular attention to Russian-Chinese information exchange. Both sides agreed to promoting cooperation between the two countries’ main media, to do more comprehensive and objective coverage of the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
双方特别关注俄中关系中的信息交流问题。双方同意促进两国主要媒体间合作，以便对双边战略协作伙伴关系进行全面客观的报道。
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Related

And now, no news, Nov 20, 2021

Fascism is the absolute principle, Sept 21, 2021

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Air Defense Competition, Particular Honors and Promotions

^{“Hold on to revolution, advance production, advance work, advance war preparation”}
The following is my translation from an article first published by the “China Defense Paper” (中国国防报), a paper run by a “People’s Liberation Army” publishing house which also publishes the “People’s Liberation Army Daily”. It was published online by China’s ministry of defense website on September 9, 2022.
Development of civil air defense reportedly started in 1950, when the CPC Central Committee issued a circular for an organizing committee that would then establish a “Central People’s Air Defense Committee” (中共中央发出通知，成立中央人民防空委员会筹委会). “Baike Baidu”, an online encyclopedia:

The masses are both the object and the force of Civil Air Defense. In addition to Civil Air Defense staff, the important goals of partners like government agencies, enterprises and public institutions as well as from all sides of society are also included, as are all aspects of societal life. Civil Air Defense are manifold, including evacuations, camouflage, dealing with the aftermath of air raids, etc..
人民群众既是人民防空对象，又是人民防空力量。人民防空对象除了人员以外，还包括政府机构、企业事业单位等重要目标，以及社会生活的各个方面。人民防空行动形式多样，包括疏散防护、隐蔽防护、消除空袭后果等。

There have been earlier days of mass mobilization, then against a suspicious power very near there – the USSR, in the 1960s.
The concept of mass mobilisation was confirmed in the 1990s, with an air defense law

adopted at the 202nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People’s Congress on October 29, 1996, promulgated by Order No. 78 of the President of the People’s Republic of China on October 29, 1996, and effective as of January 1, 1997.

–
According to the 1996 air-defense law,

[a]s authorized by the State Council and the Central Military Commission, the major military commands shall exercise leadership in the work of civil air defense in the areas under their command.

The article you are going to read describes three particular fields of competition: satellite communication, mobile-devices communication and shortwave communication.
As far as these fields of science are concerned, the 1996 law stipulates that

The tasks to be performed by mass organizations for air defense in time of　war include dealing with emergencies, doing rush repairs, providing medical aid, preventing and extinguishing fire, engaging in epidemic prevention, disinfection and sterilization, eliminating contamination, ensuring signal communications, rescuing people, doing emergency transportation of goods and materials and maintaining public order, and in time of peace they shall assist the departments for fighting against floods and earthquakes in dealing with emergencies and doing disaster relief.

That said, the army wants specialized people within its ranks, not somewhere else. And as Chinese people can be drafted (without being asked), a guideline published (or publicised) by the “PLA” in August suggests that drafts during the later months of this year would be based on skills which are particularly relevant for war prepration.

The article.
Main Link: “I particularly care about this honor” (我特别看重这份荣誉)

From August 30 to August 31, the 2022 Henan Provincial Civil Air Defense System Skills Competiton was carried out in the city of Hebi. In contrast to the past, success during the competiton was linked to the contestants’ professional advancement. For example, workers and handymen, no matter if junior, intermediate or senior workers, can all be promoted to a higher position right away, with payment and status being adjusted accordingly.
8月30日至31日，2022年河南省人防系统职业技能竞赛在鹤壁市举行。与以往不同，这次竞赛成绩与参赛选手个人职业等级晋升挂钩。比如，对于工勤技能岗位人员而言，无论是初级工、中级工还是高级工，只要进入竞赛前3名，均可直接晋升为技师，工资待遇也会相应调整。
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This change has been made because the Civil Air Defense System Skills Competiton has been integrated into the 2022 Henan Provincial vocational technical skills competiton plan. “The Civil Air Defense communication skills competition is technologically demanding, strict in its standard requirements, and should enjoy preferential regional industrial and technical competition policies.“ Someone in charge at the provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department’s professional capacity-building office explained that “according to the ‘Henan Province Professional Skills Competition (trial) Administrative Method’, three new items have been added this time, concerning: Civil Air Defense satellite communication, Civil Air Defense shortwave communication, and Civil Air Defense mobile device operators. With certain results, participants qualify for professional promotion.
变化，源于这次人防技能竞赛被纳入2022年河南省职业技能竞赛计划。“人防通信技能竞赛，技术含量高、标准要求严，理应享受地方职业技能竞赛优惠政策。”该省人社厅1职业能力建设处相关负责人介绍，依据《河南省职业技能竞赛管理办法（试行）》，此次新增了人防卫星、短波、移动通信机务员3个项目；参赛人员取得一定成绩，即获得职业等级晋升资格。
–
“Integrating war preparation competitions, practicing perfect mastery and ability.” In accordance with this line of thought, Henan Province Civil Air Defense Office first mobilized those to sign up who were up to the condition, and then instructed Municipal Civil Air Defense Offices to hold preliminary competitions to select the best from those already best so as to ensure a high starting point for the provincial finals.
“结合备战竞赛，练强过硬本领。”按照这一思路，河南省人防办首先动员符合条件的人员踊跃报名参加，然后指导各地市人防办举办预赛、优中选优，确保省决赛的高起点。
–
To ensure impartiality and fairness, the National University of Defense and Technology’s School of Communication and Information, counterpart units from Shandong, Guangxi, Sichuan and other provinces, Hebi City Fire and Rescue Brigade and other third parties were invited to send referees.
Extra efforts were made in the design of the test settings. For example, shortwave transmitter-receivers had to work with groundwaves instead of skywaves, because propagation of the latter is variably influenced [by the ionosphere]. This is how variations in assignment conditions for the participants were avoided.
为保证竞赛公平公正，他们不仅邀请国防科技大学信息通信学院，山东、广西、四川等兄弟单位，鹤壁市消防救援支队作为第三方，派出专家和技术人员担任裁判，而且还在赛题设置上下了一番功夫。比如，短波电台要借助地波而不是天波进行通联，天波受天气影响较大，这样可避免前后上场的选手作业条件出现较大差异。
–
Zhang Guoyin, a high-level worker from Zhengzhou City Civil Air Defense Office, achieved the second position at the Civil Air Defense mobile device operators which means that, according to the rewards policy, he can be promoted to the position of a technician^*) right away. “The things demanded in this competiton are pretty much what I’m practising and using regularly anyway, so I could do this quite safely.” Zhang Guoyin told this reporter that to get promoted had by no means been as easy in the past. In 2016, he passed his high-level worker exam, but the acceptance quota was limited, and he was only promoted in 2019.
郑州市人防办高级工张国印，在移动通信机务员赛项中获得第二名，按照奖励政策，他可以直接晋升为技师。“这次竞赛的内容，基本都是平时常训常练常用的，考起来得心应手。”张国印告诉记者，以前晋级可没这么顺利。他在2016年通过了高级工考试，但受名额数量所限，直到2019年才得以晋升。
–
Tan E, winner of the gold medal at the shortwave communication operators’ competition, is a technician at the Provincial Civil Air Defense command information support center. As far as technicians are concerned, the first three of them [in the competition], won’t be benefitted in terms of payment, but are exempted from two theoretical senior-technician exams. They also earn themselves a title as “Henan Province technology experts”. “I used to be with the signal corps, and I particularly care about this honor.” Holding his certificate in his hands, Tan E couldn’t hide his joy.
在短波通信机务员赛项中夺得金牌的谭峨，是省人防指挥信息保障中心的一名技师。对于技师而言，前3名的成绩虽然不与工资待遇挂钩，但可在高级技师考试中免考2门理论，并可获得“河南省技术能手”称号。“我曾是一名通信兵，特别看重这份荣誉。”谭峨手捧荣誉证书，难掩心中的喜悦。
–
There were also active engineers taking part. Gao Bing, associate engineer from the Nanyang Civil Air Defense Office, Liu Wei, intermediate engineer from Hebi Civil Air Defense Office, won gold medals in satellite and mobile device operations respectively. These are excellent successes, laying the foundations for their next professional evaluations. Zhu Anwei, second-class floorwalker at the Provincial Civil Air Defense Office, believes that competiton among staff from specialised technological posts doesn’t only help the participants’ maturity and progress, but also provides everyone with role models, goals to achieve, and is beneficial for the promotion of building skilled and talented echelons.
竞赛场上还活跃着工程师人员的身影。南阳市人防办助理工程师高冰、鹤壁市人防办中级工程师刘伟，分别获得卫星、移动通信机务员竞赛项目金牌。优异的成绩，给他们下一步的职称评定奠定了基础。省人防办二级巡视员朱安伟认为，安排专业技术岗位人员上阵比武，不仅对他们个人成长进步有帮助，而且能让大家学有榜样、赶有目标，有利于推动技能人才梯队建设。
–
Those who have earned themselves gold and silver medals have been awarded, and the others don’t consider their participation wasted time either. According to releveant regulations, those who finished 4th to 10th can be promoted. “A moment on stage takes several years of practice off-stage.” According to what leaders at the Civil Air Defense Office say, having gone through several months of ample war preparation not only brought the participants’ professional skills to new levels, but also built a good atmosphere within the provincial civil air defense system that leans on personal technical skills and on real accomplishment and improvement.
摘金夺银者有奖，其他参赛人员也不虚此行。每项赛事中获得第4至10名者，也可按相关规定晋升职业技能等级。“台上一分钟，台下数年功。”该省人防办相关领导介绍，经过几个月的充分备战，这次竞赛不仅让参赛选手业务技能上了一个大台阶，而且在全省人防系统中营造了凭技能立身、靠实绩进步的良好氛围。

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Note

^*) A reformed eight-level remuneration scale has reportedly been in place earlier this year. It includes the ranks of 学徒工 (apprentice), 初级工 (junior worker), 中级工 (intermediate worker), 高级工 (senior worker), 技师 (technician), 高级技师 (senior technician), 特级技师 (top senior technician), 首席技师 (chief technician) – see Industrial Bank of China and the CPC Central Committee’s “Qiushi” (bimonthly English-language edition) for sources
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“In a different World”

First of all, don’t worry. The world hasn’t really changed that much, but the above is a quote. As far as I’m concerned, we’ll be in a different world when the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, passes a property tax to finance the rebuilding of our army, the Bundeswehr.

Also, the Chinese foreign minister says that “the cold war has long gone”.

Chinese worries (“Guanchazhe”, Shanghai, Febr 26):
Is the crying man really pro-Kiev,
rather than pro-Russian?
Are the Western media lying again?

But Twitter would be a useless distraction if I didn’t keep an account of what I learn there. So here goes.

February 22	Demonstration in Prague
Thousands of people gather on Prague’s Wenceslas Squareshow their solidarity with the Ukrainian people, Radio Prague, the Czech Republic’s foreign radio station, reports the following day. Ukraine’s ambassador Yevhen Perebyinis thanks them, and says that ” it really means a lot to us because we see that we are not alone.”
–
February 23	“No plans to leave Kiev”
Andreas Umland, a political scientist who has lived in Kiev for about two decades, is currently in Germany, but plans to return to Kiev on Saturday, he says in an interview with Polish foreign radio’s German service, broadcast on February 23. He doesn’t expect an attack on Kiev.
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February 23	“China is watching us”
Latvia’s defense minister Artis Pabriks tells a TV station that “if we weren’t members of NATO and also of the EU, we would definitely be in the positon of Ukraine now – I can guarantee that,” and that “we have nowhere to retreat, because others are watching us. China is watching us.”
–
February 23	“Nixon’s visit changed the world”
China is certainly watching the U.S. China policy. At 22:05 local time, party-affiliated tabloid “Huanqiu Shibao” publishes an editorial titled “Washington must not fall back from Nixon’s diplomatic legacy”, and quotes Nixon himself as referring to his visit, from February 21 to 28, 1972, as “world-changing”. The editorial speaks about “overall stability” in Sino-U.S. relations despites “ups and downs”, about “mutual benefit”, and “double-win”. 此后50年，中美关系虽然历经风雨但保持了总体稳定，成就了两个大国长达半个世纪的互利共赢。.It wasn’t true, “Huanqiu Shibao” argues, that only the USSR,considered an enemy by both at the time, had made Nixon’s initiative possible, as that alone couldn’t explain the comprehensive and rapid development, nor the amazing vitality that kept erupting once the ice between China and the U.S. had been broken. Those “old stubborns” who had “once opposed Nixon” seemed to be coming back to life, “Huanqiu Shibao” deplores. 当年反对尼克松的老顽固们仿佛纷纷复活了，历史和美国兜了一个大圈子。
–
February 23	Own nukes for South Korea?
Seven out of ten citizens support the idea, reports South Korea’s foreign radio station KBS World, citing a Hankook Research survey. While tensions around Ukraine are rapidly rising in Europe, North Korea, of course, keeps testing missiles which run as a kind of background noise to South Koreans daily routine.Asked froom where they see the greatest threats to South Korea now, most respondent name North Korea,followed by China, Japan, and the U.S.. Asked which country would be the gravest threat in ten years, 56 percent name China.
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February 24	“Everything suggests that this is a large-scale invasion”
Austrian Radio’s Moscow correspondent states that “everything suggests that this is a large-scale invasion” (“alles deutet auf eine groß angelegte Invasion hin”). Austrian radio’s coverage in general follows this diction.
–
February 24	Czech arms industry prepared to supply Ukraine
The Czech Republic’s arms industry is prepared to supply Ukraine with military material if the Czech government makes a decision in favor of that, Radio Prague’s German service quotes Jiří Hynek, chairman of the country’s arms industry association.
–
February 24	“Pleasantries are no strategy”
Christoph Heusgen, a former foreign-policy and security-policy advisor who served Chancellor Merkel from 2005 to 2017, says that while it had been right to keep channels with Moscow open, they had always underestimated Putin’s brutality and unscrupulousness. That’s how Radio Poland’s German service quotes Heusgen in their daily press review.
–
February 24/25	South Korea and Taiwan will join sanctions
Both South Korea and China announce that they will join international sanctions against Russia. South Korea’s foreign ministry says on Febr 24 that “South Korea, as a responsible member of the international community, will support and participate in international efforts, including economic sanctions, aimed at curbing Russia’s encroachment and resolving the situation peacefully.” On February 25, in a speech at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, announces Taiwan’s participation in the sanctions, saying that “Taiwan is ready to do anything that might help achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict”.
–
February 24	Finland and Sweden
“It is important for Finland and Sweden to be involved in the Nato meeting, due to the situation in the Baltic Sea region, for example,” Yleisradio’s (Finland) English website quotes its country’s foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto. He reportedly also says that “we consider it important that Nato continues its open-door policy and that we can apply for membership if we wish.”
–
February 24	Taiwanese citizens in Ukraine
There are still 33 Taiwanese citizens in Ukraine, reports Radio Taiwan International’s German service, despites requests from the Taiwan government to leave the country.
–
February 24/25	Vietnam’s reaction
Vietnam’s foreign radio station’s foreign language programs are focused on the development of a strategic partnership with Singapore where state president Nguyen Xuan Phuc is visiting. There is a notice from a spokesperson of Vietnam’s foreign ministry however, on February 24, suggesting that substantial numbers of Vietnamese citizens are in Ukraine, and offering them help if needed.
–

I’ve left the well-known newsitems (SWIFT cuts, arms supplies to Ukraine from other European countries, Nordstream 2 etc. out because they are well known. Think of this blogpost as a diary entry.

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Related

Sweden’s Donation, FoarP, Febr 27, 2022
No Quadriga for Nobody, July 18, 2011

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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: Navel-gazing Rogue in the Broadcasting Room

Why, sure …

 

Canada’s parliament declares China’s persecution of Uighurs a “genocide”? Cool, but who in China cares when Canada doesn’t speak to the world, including China, and explains the declaration?

If the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) critics state their case correctly, that’s the state of Canada’s foreign broadcasting. Not only will CBC, reportedly, violate the Broadcasting Act by cutting Radio Canada International (RCI) down further. It would also be sort of privatizing it, by shifting its focus to domestic minority broadcasting, thus competing with private ethnic radio operators – and, according to the “RCI Action Committee” – to newcomers to our country”, “engaging with its target audience, particularly newcomers to Canada”, and making this new content “freely available to interested ethnic community media”.

The idea that publicly-funded foreign broadcasters (or media platforms) should shift their attention to migrant communities at home, at least to some extent, is nothing new. Germany’s Deutsche Welle has been doing this for a number of years now, and so has (it seems to me) Radio Sweden.

But that’s not RCI’s mandate, writes the Action Committee.

CBC’s supervisors appear to be fast asleep, while there is “a rogue elephant in the broadcasting room”, according to Peter Menzies, a former Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) vice chair.

According to the “RCI Action Committee’s” blog on December 4 last year, RCI, after what CBC calls its “modernization”, won’t run its own website any more, and the Spanish, Arabic and Chinese services will be basically closed – cut from three editors each to only one editor per language remaining, to translate content from the CBC and Radio-Canada websites. And the English and French programs, it seems, will cease to exist completely.

Menzies, a signatory to a letter calling on senior government officials to get CBC executives to put their latest plans on hold and give RCI employees a few weeks to come up with an alternative restructuring plan, also gives a short account of Radio Canada International’s history, from the final days of world war 2 to 2012, when RCI’s budget was cut into by 80 percent, two-thirds of staff laid off and RCI ceased shortwave and satellite transmission, becoming internet only.

Will CBC listen to its critics? Not if its supervisors remain silent. In fact, RCI staff has often put up resistance and creativity against budget and program slashes, but never successfully, at least not in the long run.

Radio Canada International has been a shadow of itself since early this century, and it had seen cuts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, too.

Radio Canada International once ran a German service. It was one of the most popular shortwave programs among German listeners both in East and West Germany until it was closed in late 1989 or early 1990. At the time, new language services such as Arabic or Chinese were said to be the reason for terminating the daily half-hour German programs.

Gunter Michelson, one of the Radio Canada International German service’s editors who had left or retired before the department was closed, said in a telephone interview at the time that

This is a strange issue. The German programs’ termination is explained by the launch of broadcasts in Chinese. The idea of a Chinese service in itself is up-to-date and very good. China will, after all, be one of the world’s greatest markets. But the same logic demands that Canada broadcasts in German, to the European-Community, which is going to be the world’s biggest trading block in the foreseeable future, with 340 million consumers and 60 million people within the EC and 80 million in central Europe speak German. You can’t simply ignore them.[…]^*)

Sure thing: you can, just as you can ignore a potential billion-and-a-half Chinese audience. OK – many of them were lost when the shortwave broadcasts from Canada ended, anyway.

Thirty years later, the budget slashes are coming full circle – it’s the Chinese service’s turn to be (nearly) eliminated. To whom is Canada talking when its parliament passes a resolution concerning China?

Probably to itself. Be a human-rights advocate and feel good about it.

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Note

^*) Michelson, August 27, 1989: Das ist eine außerordentlich befremdliche Sache. Begründet wird die Einstellung des deutschsprachigen Programms mit der Aufnahme von Sendungen in Chinesisch. An sich ist die Idee eines chinesischen Dienstes aktuell und sehr gut. China wird ja eines Tages einer der größten Absatzmärkte der Welt sein. Aber die gleiche Logik erfordert auch, dass Kanada auf Deutsch ins EG-Gebiet sendet, das ja in zwei oder drei Jahren mit 340 Millionen Verbrauchern den in absehbarer Zeit größten Wirtschaftsblock der Welt darstellen wird. Und über 60 Millionen Personen im EG-Gebiet, um 80 Millionen in Mitteleuropa, sprechen ja Deutsch. Die kann man nicht einfach ignorieren. […]

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Related

RCI “effectively retired”, April 9, 2012
Advocacy journalism not the problem, Jan 26, 2012
Opinion leaders, May 20, 2011

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Radio or the Internet? It’s both or neither

Why are “social media” so successful? Seems to me that the most obvious reason is that they give you a chance to speak out publicly, to make a difference in political ways. You can compliment the actress of your choice (ahem), you can shout at your region’s members of parliament, at top politicians, or at industrial managers.

(Those who appoint the managers won’t usually do Facebook or Twitter, though. They may not even bother to hire some ghostwriters.)

Then there may be a need to network. When all people relevant for your career are on Facebook or Twitter, you may have to be there, too. There may be a real need to follow them there, if you want to succeed in your job, or in “smashing the system”, or whatever your mission may be.

If both these motivations – making yourself heard and networking – are important, this could help to explain why “social media” haven’t helped to make our societies more democratic. What they have produced is a crude dialectics, though I’m not sure if there’s a never-ending synthesis, or if synthesis is completely out when sloganeering (with some more or less original variations of peoples’ credos) is the only thing that matters.

Bertolt Brecht doesn’t come across as an optimist. He usually saw the potential in new developments, including radio broadcasting – in 1932 and one year before the Nazis seized control of it. Brecht also knew – or learned – that newly-emerging media wouldn’t necessarily help the cause that he held dear.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a guy who is talking about the Internet, not radio,

writes a headphones guy in California.

Sounds logical, but it isn’t. Just as radio has become a mostly linear medium, so has the internet – at least on its commercial side, i. e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.. Yes, people can voice their opinions there. But I can’t see how they would shape things in a way different from the old days^*). No matter if radio or internet, their democratic effectiveness depends on how they are organized, or how people organize themselves while using radio or the internet as their media.

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Note

^*) Except for a more intense cultivation of enmity on the internet, maybe.

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Related

My first ten days on Twitter, Jan 30, 2020

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Radio Taiwan International’s Korean Service plans Return to Shortwave

A 2014 photo of Taiwan’s Tamsui transmitters site,
RTI QSL card 2015

After a break of some fifteen years, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reportedly plans a return to shortwave for its Korean language department. These plans had been raised at an award ceremony for RTI’s Korean department, held by the Korea Shortwave Club in Seoul in November 2019, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported back then. RTI’s board of directors was expected to take a positive decision in January 2020, and RTI’s German service confirmed in a mailbag program on May 29 that the Korean programs would indeed return to shortwave.

This follows the resumption of shortwave transmissions by the foreign broadcaster’s French and Spanish services. According to RTI’s French service’s mailbag program in February, RTI’s management wants the station to use all means of communications available, to raise Taiwan’s profile.

No opening day has apparently been specified, but the switch from the summer to the winter 2020/21 broadcasting season (in late October) doesn’t appear unlikely.