Bo Xilai was a fast-rising politician in China. His sudden downfall plays out like a soap opera, with stories of corruption, hidden money, and murder. This story was picked up by the international press, but the details first broke on a Chinese language website called Boxun.com, which is run out of an office in Durham, NC. Host Frank Stasio will take a look at citizen journalism, working from half a world away with Watson Meng, the founder and editor of Boxun.com, and Scott Savitt, a China journalist and translator.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Shawn Wen joined the staff of The State of Things in March 2012 and served as associate producer until February 2014.