Environmental: Blame Chinese Dams Rise as Mekong River Dries Up

Environmental: Blame Chinese Dams Rise as Mekong River Dries Up is an article from Global Issues which is a non-governmental organization website. By reading the the title of the article you have a sense of what the environmental issue will be about. The tone of the title is quite harsh with having the first word be "blame", putting the Chinese at fault for the environmental issue almost and pointing a finger at them. However, the journalist never compared the Chinese dams to other dams around the world to see if there are any evidence that this may be a well-organized argument of why the Mekong river is drying up in the southern area. Also, the journalist seems to only stay on one side pretty much through out the article instead of being neutral to the topic or objective.

The first sentence in the paragraph stated, "Environmentalist and sections of the regional media are blaming the Chinese dams being built or operating on the upper reaches of the Mekong for contributing for the dramatic drop in water levels that are affecting communities in..." By using the word environmentalist, it seems that even the 'experts' were agreeing with the public views and having media to blame the Chinese dams shows that this could be a bias perspective. Due to the fact that media tends to be bias in reporting any kind of issues or news, whatsoever, and media always exaggerates the news.

The journalist quoted lots of different experets which are mainly governmental agents like the Chinese embassy, the Thai prime minster and MRC members. The issue that I have with this was the fact that the journalist never explained what MRC stands for or is and what the purpose is so readers can have a better understanding. Because MRC can stand for anything, for example; Media Research Center, Medical Reserve Corps and Merchant Risks Council. The article brought in a support saying that the Mekong river drying up is a problem to certain communities like the people who live in Mekong Basin, because "fishing is the main source to livelihood in that community." But the down fall of this is that the people with authority were speaking for them who obviously is not living or experiencing for themselves. I would like to have heard how the Chinese dams are personally and emotionally effecting the lives of the people who lived in that area. However, if that was done the journalist would have to change direction and its concentration of the article. One thing I did find positive were the different perspective of reasons from both opposing views of the environmental issue.

There were scientific history and fact about the Mekong river, but there was no comparison to how the river used to be like until the Chinese dams came into play. That was one down fall on the science view, but it does give you some useful information about the benefit that communities recieve from the Mekong river. Also, there was not anything about how the dams were not only affecting the lives of human beings, but animal as well. Like fish for example, how are the dams affecting the fishes living cycle in the area where the dams are built.

The ending of the article left me kind of in an awkward position, because I felt like the story was not done or the debate to this issue was not finished. The article ended with a quote from an authority who is claimed to be an expert in this topic almost making it seem like the readers should take that expert's side. I would consider that the ending was really the journalist thesis of the article. It was more like a cut off to the environmental issue to me.