Freedom To Beat Up The Press

You aren't some bona fide superstar if you haven't beat up some photographers or paparazzi. Li Yapeng, now joining ranks with crazed Icelandic singer Bjork, is now an official press beating celebrity. Just looking at the video, mind you, shot by the paparazzi corps, you wouldn't know if Li was protecting the privacy of his family or her daughter as alleged by Li himself. It's not like he was hitting the photographer while he was snapping pictures of his daughter or inflicting possible bodily harm to members of his family. He just hit the photographer when being called the bluff by another reporter on the scene. I guess that just made it less defensible. He was outraged so he hit the photographer, he wasn't protecting his family. By doing that I think he stooped even lower than the paparazzi he so despised.

The press has taken a beating when it comes to reporting the Beijing Olympics. You got just as much as freedom as Beijing allows. And very much at the discretion of the Beijing law enforcement agents, i.e. the cops who have little idea to respect the freedom of press. For freedom is a concept too remote or freedom is a right inherently given by the state or by the law enforcement agents from that part of the world. The poor guy Alex Wong even admitted he was scared shitless during the time he was detained. And admitted signing some paper before his release. Where was his boss, the SCMP? Wong you just need to find another real paper to work with.

The obligatory YouTube from ESWN.