There is some anger being expressed by Chinese citizens about foreign media reporting on the Tibet protests and violence. To a certain extent it is justified. Showing pictures of Nepali security forces beating Tibetan protesters and labeling those pictures as Chinese violence is at best sloppy, at worst a lie. And I keep wondering why so many writers can only bring themselves to say that Tibetan protesters have “attacked” Han civilians. Is “killed” too hard a word to write?
But Chinese criticism might be more credible if the same anger was expressed about the totally one-sided reporting by Chinese media. Foreign media might make some mistakes. That happens. It might have some biases. That happens too. But Chinese media is complete in its bias and censorship - there are no exceptions to this when it comes to Tibet and Xinjiang. I would also feel more sympathy if those same Chinese media - and Chinese citizens - showed more willingness to understand the real desires and grievances of Tibetans and other minorities. Instead, the majority voice is one of Han chauvinism similar to that of the British in India. There’s even the “we built them a railway and they’re so ungrateful” argument.
The Tibetan protests erupted on the anniversary of the 1959 uprising. There was another anniversary this week - the fifth anniversary of the US-British invasion of Iraq. That is where far more anger should be directed. Anger about the killing and anger about the lies. Watching the BBC just now, I learned that “tens of thousands” of Iraqis have been killed. In 2006, the best estimate for Iraqi deaths was 650,000. Now, the number could be more than a million. The BBC’s “tens of thousands” sounds very much like the Sudanese government’s claim that 8,000 people have died in Darfur. What should we make of that?
9 Comments
Highly agree with your comments on different views possessed by different parties. The problems are who will voice the non-biased real truth, and can it be heard?
I mostly agree. What I find really upsetting though is CCP’s ability to make things out the way they want to be- sure Bush is no better, but Americans don’t have to listen to Bush. Westerners can search out the truth, if they want. Chinese have far fewer opportunities to do so. There’s more hope for Iraq because of this- there’s a good chance the US will have a president who wants to pull out of the war. I’m guessing there’s little chance that Xi Jinping isn’t going to be making any big changes on Tibet policy.
The problem is, EVERYONE, including the Chinese themselves knows that Chinese media is biased, it is nothing more than the mouthpiece of the Chinese government. EVERYONE knows that. At the same time, EVERYONE, including the Chinese, thought western media was all about facts, truths and being impartial etc., at least that’s what they have been bragging about (”Fair and balanced”). What the Chinese found out was that the western media was not much better than the Chinese media after all. And the naive Chinese thought there was no propaganda in the west. How naive.
You’ve summarised the situation really well. The western media have let themselves down, and it is a real shame because this helps the Chinese government/media defend itself, and deflects attention away from the real issues.
In some ways it seems that China brings the worst out of the western media, partly because of idiological differences , particularly over freedom of speach, but also because of the difficulties that foreign journalists face in China. The main reason that pictures of Napalese beating Tibetans police have been used is because it has been so difficult/impossible to get pictures of these events from Tibet/China (not because they didn’t happen!).
Bob, not being able to capture Chinese police beating Tibetans (how do you know it really happened?) is no excuse for misleading readers with pictures of Indian and Nepalese police arresting Tibetan protesters.
Seriously, what is the fuss about? What did the Chinese government do wrong?
Pffefer, you’re right, it’s not an excuse to mislead people! It is perhaps the main reason for the confusion - few newspapers would use images from Nepal if they had journalists in Tibet.
If you want to know what the fuss is about, I suggest you Google ‘free tibet’ and read a little about the people making all of ‘the fuss’.
Bob, I am well aware of the free Tibet cause, where they come from and where the Chinese come from. But I was referring to specifically the crack down. What did the Chinese government do wrong?
Pffefer, I hear what you are saying. I was under the impression that the Chinese government was well within its rights to send in the Chinese Military considering that:
1) The “peaceful” protests turned into a full out rebellion
2) Innocent Chinese civilians were brutally murdered and not in the name of indepedence, but of ethnic hatred
How would any nation be expected to react?
I’m in china,i know what happend ..but when i scaned the papers,i was mad..they who exactly don’t know what happend used their one-side opinion to show to their readers….
How many normal citizens were killed there?! if that is peace,i have nothing to say~!
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