Tibet - media bias as China bans western press

Peng Xiaobo weeps as he tells CCTV-9 how his sister died

Tibet remains in the news despite Chinese authorities preventing western journalists entering the region to report. But the restrictions are themselves, skewing the way in which western media is reporting the events. While state television has been allowed some access to Lhasa, BBC, CNN and Sky News television crews have experienced varying levels of restriction from Chinese authorities. CNN’s John Vause made his way by car from Beijing to Sichuan province and managed to get past countless roadblocks without being stopped. A report he made on one evening was made using night-sight camera equipment so as to avoid attention from local police. A Sky News team arrived in Gansu province and secretly filmed convoys of army trucks making their way towards Tibet. But on Thursday the crew were detained by police after a scuffle in Sichuan. The BBC has also faced restrictions in their attempts to get closer to where rioting has left many dead. BBC's James Reynolds spent 24 hours in Hezuo in Gansu, where earlier this week Tibetan protesters tore down the Chinese flag. But attempts to move towards Tibet have been thwarted by roadblocks.

But while western media has relied only on second hand reports and smuggled pictures, CCTV-9, Chinese media’s international arm, has been able to report from Lhasa itself. On Thursday the Chinese channel gave in depth coverage to the story. Although there was bias within the 15 minute broadcast, there were many aspects of the troubles not reported by western media.

Reporters for the state broadcaster spoke to a number of Han Chinese who were targeted by the rioters. Some spoke of how they had lost not only their businesses but also members of their family as rioters set fire to shops and houses. Several described how friends and relatives were burned alive after being trapped in burning buildings. Peng Xiaobo, a businessman, who lives in Lhasa, told CCTV that the rioters set fire to his business. Several of his family had to jump from an upstairs room to flee the flames, but his 18 year old sister died in the fire. Five girls were also burned to death in another building set on fire by rioters. One of them, Chen Jia, had sent a text message to her distraught father saying they had hidden in a building because they were fearful of going outside. A friend of the girls spoke of her grief and said “I can’t understand why the rioters killed innocent civilians”. According to CCTV even ambulances and medical staff were targeted by the rioting crowds.

Pictures showed the vast areas of the city damaged by the rioting. The broadcast blamed the rioting on what it called the ‘Dalai clique’, but gave no analysis as to the grievances or reasoning of the Tibetan people [CCTV]. The paranoia exhibited by the Beijing authorities has resulted in many aspects of the ‘uprisings’ and rioting going unreported by western broadcasters. Attacks on the Han Chinese population have been little reported and there have been no reports on either CNN, Sky or the BBC of the deaths amongst the Chinese population. The western broadcasters have reported much on the high death toll of what it calls ‘protesters’, and what the Chinese media refer to as ‘rioters’. The numbers vary wildly with figures ranging from 10 to as high as 100. But without independent journalists on the ground it is difficult to assess the true scale of violence, destruction and the number of casualties.

While the true picture of events on the ground is still unclear, many voices are beginning to speak out in support of the Tibetan people. Nancy Pelosi called for an inquiry into the Chinese crackdown on protesters when she met the Dalai Lama on Friday. "We call upon the international community to have an independent outside investigation on accusations made by the Chinese government that His Holiness [the Dalai Lama] was the instigator of violence in Tibet", Ms Pelosi said. The speaker of the US House of Representatives was on a visit to Dharamsala in India where the Tibetan leader remains in exile. “Freedom loving people should denounce the actions of China in Tibet” the senior US lawmaker said. But her words were swiftly condemned by Beijing who said the west should not meddle in China’s internal affairs [BBC / CNN / Sky News]. But other world leaders have also spoken out against what is seen by some as a harsh crackdown by Chinese authorities against Tibetan protesters. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking this week in Parliament called on the Chinese to act with restraint. But he too was criticised by Beijing for raising the issue.

The news coverage of the protests, riots and deaths on the streets of Tibet and in neighbouring provinces has angered the Beijing Olympics Organising Committee. This week Jiang Xiaoyu said, “These disruptive protests are a challenge to the Olympic charter ... and a challenge to peace in the world”.

There appears to be a lack of understanding of PR skills by the Chinese authorities. By disallowing foreign journalists into Tibet, Gansu, Sichuan and other flashpoints, the reporting will tend to be biased against China. While stories and pictures are unobtainable legitimately, they are instead secured from less reliable sources. The story can of course be exploited by people for their own political agenda. The visit to India by the US Speaker pushed the story to top of today’s news agenda once again. Tibet was the top Story on CNN, Sky News and Al Jazeera while the BBC placed the item second after Easter travel chaos in the UK. Meanwhile, there has been criticism within China that the media has been not only biased but inaccurate in its reporting [China Daily]. Of course, allowing western journalists into Tibet, may have solved many of these concerns.

While the Chinese authorities might be rightly criticised for being less than restrained in quelling the riots, such disturbances have often been violently put down in the west. In 1972 the army in Northern Ireland opened fire on demonstrators killing 13 in what has become known as Bloody Sunday. And in 1970 the US National Guard killed 4 students when they opened fire on peaceful demonstrators at Kent State University. Rioters have also been sought after in a determined way in the west as was seen following the Poll Tax Riots in the UK. Hundreds were rounded up by police following the 1990 disturbances which saw violence met out by both the authorities and demonstrators. Damage to central London was estimated in the hundreds of thousands of pounds.