It's "watched closely by China's leadership", alright

...here in the United States we don't actually have the best view of the media revolution that is under way. To truly understand it and its power to reshape peoples' views of the news and reality, it may be better to look at a more closed, state-run media environment, like that of, say, China. There, an interesting experiment is under way that, in time, could reshape what people know about in their home country.

Eric Zhang, a former staffer at the China Daily news organization based in Beijing, has launched www.molive.cn, a site that lets ordinary people gather news with their camera cellphones. The site, launched three weeks ago, lets people post photos they have taken to their own personal websites with small descriptions of the scenes. Editors comb the postings and put the best ones on Molive's home page. The site is young but already has more than 100 people posting on it from all around the country and more than 20,000 readers a day.

"There has to be a picture. No picture, no report," Mr. Zhang says. "There are all sorts of things. Sometimes accidents, sometimes just an interesting scene, sometimes just a beautiful woman."

But the potential for the site is greater. There are restrictions on it - no courts coverage and no murder or crime - but labor strikes, which technically don't exist in China, are allowed as a subject. And if there is a citizen uprising or disturbance? Zhang says he has not been given formal instructions, but he intends to allow people to post those items - though the site will not promote them to the front page.

The site, which like all Chinese media exists at the government's discretion, is being watched closely by China's leadership, according to its founder and CEO. "They say they are very interested and pleased at the response," Zhang says. "But they also say, 'Take care.' "

When I try to access www.molive.cn, I get redirected to a page that says they're temporarily shut down.