Tihet, Lies and Uideotape

PerhaPs more than anY

China's other in recent memory,
internet war 20O8 can be described as
the year China made the
against the headlines - hosting the ra
': L *r r( i!
+
West OlymPics, the Sichuan
earthquake, and the
intense international
This year, the scrutiny of its human
media have focused rights record during the
weeks of unrest in Tibet
extensivelY on China in March. In the case of
in thelt covefage the latter, it is ProbablY fair
to say that not onlY were
of the Free Tibet il'l;
headlines made, but theY
movement and the were thoroughlY scrutinised t*:**'
and challenged bY the :. .1
OlymPic Protests. The
most unexPected voices
stronglY contfastlng - those of the suPposedlY
representations of oppressed Chinese citizens'

these issues bY The truth -

Westetn and Chinese somewhere
journalists have
between the East
and theWest
raised imPottant On March l0th, a
protest held against the
issues about
Chinese rule in Lhasa,Tibet
journalism In out escalated into more tnan a
week of riots, as the angrY
modetn globalised
Tibetan mob attacked the
w0rld. M0fe Han Chinese (the ethnic
specificallY, the fact majority) and their ProPerty
As the violence mounted,
that so many Chinese the police was brought
bloggets wete in and the citY of Lhasa
was sealed off comPletely
eagef to challenge from foreign media.
the repotts of lnternational reactlon was
quick to condemn China's
tradltionallY ttusted
crackdown - over 100,000
institutions such as have joined the'Free Tibet'
Facebook group to date;
the CNN and BBC
politicians and HollYwood
suggests major shifts stars spoke out; and all this
culminated in Prominent
in journalism, global
pro-Tibetan Protests
politics, and national worldwide.
fepfesentations, and The Chinese,
understandablY, were not
tells us a lot about impressed. But, imPortantly,
the impllcatlons of Idon't just mean tne
Chinese government:
the demociatisation an enraged Chinese
of the media in the blogosPhere oegan
lashing out vicious attacrs
21st centurY. Rachel
at the Western media's
Ng explotes the misreporting of the Tibetan
unrest, far more violentlY
issues.
than anY Chinese official
statement or mouthPiece'
isany Western nnedia
sinrply say: FeoPle
died in the Protest"
This imPlldtlY teUs
their audience cr
veaders that (hinese
governnrevrt killed
protestors. 0o theY
dare mention who
died? who attaeked
whorn? amd who killed
whom?i am angrY
blogger {named l'lews
Checker) writes at
Blogspot.
httPl/lnewschetker"
blo gsPot"eon'r/2008/031
who"lie'about-xlzang-
tibet'wisienre-nnd"htrnl
A video called 'Tibet
was, is and alwaYs will
be a part of China'has
accumulated over 3
million views on YouTube'
This persPective on tne
controversy could either be
seen as juvenile consPiracy
theory, or incisivelY
insightful: Tibet is simPlY
the latest in a string of
unjust accusations made
the Western media against
China in a bid to slow down
its incredible growth in
economy and Power.Yet
although the imPassioned
rhetoric on a lot of these
blogs and videos was often
just as biased and flawed
the Western media it was
criticising, one cannot deny
it had a Point. Regardless
of political or ideological
standpoint, this controversY
has undoubtedlY
thrown into light a lot of
unsettling questions
about journalistic ethics,
active readershiP and
most of all, the Power
relationshiPs between the
media, consumers and
gOvernments.
lmplications
for the Western
media
bY
One good reason why
these Chinese bloggers
deserved attention was
simply because their anger
at the Western media was
actuallY justified. Several
German, American and
French news outlets had
as
illustrated their stories of
the Tibet riots with images
and videos of men in blue
militarY uniform brutallY
assaulting Buddhist monks,
yet the Photos were
revealed to have nothing
to do with what haPPened
in Lhasa; they had actuallY
been taken in NePal. One
BBC photo caPtioned'There
is a heavY military Presencc
in Lhasa' actuallY dePicted
an ambulance and medical
staff. Most infamouslY of all,
the CNN article'RePort: 100
dead in Tibet' was illustrated
with a photograph of two
men running in front of a
van. Whilst this photograph
[ur:dry,3^pr] ms !X P'qd rasr codtrr.d ar 1r 5s GMr M.
had indeed been taken @ 53

in Tibet, it was cropped

Tibetans describe continuing unresl
to omit violent Tibetan
protestors throwing stones
Tf'r The challenges of reporting in China
1i*n6 bting pad in and atrdd bylhe.ontinuing unresl have
mnbcH th€ EBC kw6 wddG lo doscri* 6.ir €4eri.n63,

at the vehicle. This inspired

the Chinese hip phrase of
the year, which roughly i" m nsd6amonaslory.ighl.ow. Ths
lelophon€ la&lMs have al b6encul oll.
translates as'a person Jlsl on. mrnul6 a@ I1345 OMTI lh€re w*
: big.onnorion. Th6 nonks olrslde rhe
LaBtw4klho!$nd3 ol Chines lound lh6y ftre rbl.b tc€s s. BBc
should not be too CNN'. hB rchiLlor t.liBllim!, etur Fa6 ot ctid 6nso6hip. Th€y +
mondlery w6re sho!|re bng b6 the

n.ild tololl us whatlhoy thouthl, dd maoy e.re criti.al o, olr

I n other words,'CNN' has lhis mo..ry rhe 6ludenrs ol a diddlo
sch@l won! oul &'d prolosld. Th6re were
become synonymous with hrcS6 gACs A6i6 buruu chid P.!l Danrhrr, who iB bld in &ijing, an6srs anddan! T,o€lan3 *6N ro rhe
re@ond3lo lhi. crilici!m rnd look! d lh..h!ilongdi ol rupodn! in Flca slaionlodofrsd the 161546 ol
a deliberate, shameless thos6dotdn& Twogtlg wsG shol sdnoundd.

obliteration of the truth, rl is a plea6anr suprsa rD e cilk se by

rl s lense sd iiighlanr€. The @lica lalErrd€ed ih6 5lud6fl3

In Sarkham counly Ih€ro is a high sch@l tlh a sludenl populaiio. dr a&d 3m

and is now taken to be 400 slld6nls. Th666 sludenlE manqd Io bring @n lhe Chin6se nsliond rq

the embodiment of the Mosl ol you v 6wry Ihis ry6 a6

urkBi4y laking lor gr8nld a lur!ry Ihal
lying, conniving enemy. ltus€ o' us lving &hid ttu 'Gr6al
Fr6vdl' hav6 lodo wilhoul.
Websites such as www.
Aurcr e4^r r[9 p.ruJcotlhd nder
vob4ro up de ,und,m h Chi^!
anti-cnn.com, which
dutifully document all the
misreportings concerning
Tibet, have established
themselves as the rallying
point against the biases of
the Western media.
lnstitutions such as the
BBC also found themselves
impelled to take these
criticisms seriously, as these
blogs were stirring up
overwhelmingly popular
patriotism and anger
needed jolt to the current their message of an internet rallying of pro- mediate that world. And
towards the West amongst
paradigm by representing inseparable (hina and Tibetan causes is a good they don't shy away from
their Chinese readers. For
popular demand for a<cusations of media example of the public taking concrete political
the BBC specifically, their
better journalistic bias. sphere in action, then action either: the organised
audience had extended
accountability. The BBC http://www.iht.com/ these Chinese blogs may rallies in support of Beijing
greatly at the end of May,
article seems to be the very articles/apl2008/03/30/ very well represent a very during the Olympic torch
when China lifted the ban
illustration of such intense asia/A5-6tN-(hina- intelligent counterpublic, relay are testament to such
on the English BBC site
scrutiny and supervision, Tihet-Bashing-the- not only forming and blogs' power and influence.
for the first time. But the
effectively producing West.php?page='l engaging in an alternative The autonomy and high
Chinese response was so
a heightened sense of It has often been political discourse on their level of media literacy
negative and critical that
caution and responsibility suggested that the own, but also usurping displayed by the Chinese
BBC's Asia Bureau chief
in these institutions. internet is the closest the and manipulating the bloggers are indeed
had to write a response
modern age comes to tools and strategies (blogs, remarkable, but at the same
especially targeted at such
criticisms ('The challenges
lmplications for having a'public spheref videos, photographic time, it is easy to be overly

of reporting in Chinai Paul

Chinese netizens a term proposed by the evidence) their pro- optimistic about the whole
On March 30th, Marxist theorist Jiirgen Tibetan rivals used to have controversy. As Roland
Danahat http://news.bbc.
a reporter for the Habermas to describe a privilege over. ndeed,
I Soong pointed out in his
co.uk/l /hi/world/asia-
I nternati ona I H ero ld Tri bu ne €ommon congregative the internet has provided EastSouthWestNorth blog
p acifi cl 7 327 886.stm). Yet
wrote: space where individuals a levelling platform that (one of the most intelligent
this is not necessarily bad
Irom YouTube videos to in society can discuss has, to an extent, greatly commentaries on the
news. Age-old brand names
Farebook to Web sites and form public opinions democratised the access controversy), a handful of
such as CNN and BBC have
qeated to (riti(ise news that can then influence to and production of examples of journalistic
had almost unchallenged
reporting, the message political discourse and media. Traditionally, malpractices cannot
reputations as the
is emphati<: Western government policies. Yet one of the reasons for discredit the Western media
embodiment of modern
media are irresponsible since a universal oublic media consumption entirely, and at the end
journalistic standards, and
and Iibet will never sphere would always according to the Uses and of the day, the challenge
have been monopolising
be independent. marginalise certain groups Gratifications model is posed to the CNN or the
gatekeepers over news
access. The idea of a media
[...] While libetan of people, critic Nancy 'surveillancei the need for European news outlets has
a(tivists have long Fraser argued that such information. In our case been far from devastating.
watchdog Iike anti-cnn.
used the lnternet to ignored groups may very here, however, the Chinese The Western world is almost
com, no matter how
promote their cause, well form their own oublic audience not only seeks completely ignorant of such
grounded it is in passionate
[. ..1 this was the first sphere, a counterpublic 'surveillance' over the criticisms; the Chinese living
nationalism rather than
time ordinary (hinese that works against world they live in, but also in China even more so, as
rational objectivity, would
stru<k back with hegemonic opinion. lf over how news producers they have no legitimate
seem to give a much-
News Checker
ne*s.T€ll thc iruth
Rcsd News.Sh@

SUNDAY, MARCH I6, ?OOE

slol Polilbdvbbncos in lndb Simc aorr

Tib€t WAS, lS, and ALWAYS
WILL BE a part of China
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FUCK U RETARDSI!i TIBIT I5 ALWAYs PART

OF CHINA!I!
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Canada-Tibet cofi mtttec

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Write Review 5ee All

DitPlayirtg I of 106 review!

ALwAYs PARr
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OF CHINAI
o-o]ono,nun t"unn nt i 0lpnl orl lune lr't 2008

as oppqsed to our network where theY are

access to such sources
the bloggers have mosttY
been students or residents
overseas. As Frank Ching
of
Morning
the South China
Post notes:
It is ironic that China, a
(ountry that does not
allow the oPeration
of a fiee Press, should
accuse the Western
media of bias in
its coverage of the
dramatit events in
Tibet, including the use
of double standardE'
lmplications
fof the Chinese
government
It would seem that the
Chinese government is
in quite a fix. lt garnereo
immense suPPort from
its own citizens, but
these citizens belong to
a community of bloggers
and blog-readers, whose
freedom of sPeech on the
internet is the verY
it has been trying to and
- continuing to suPPress'
The Chinese
government's relationshtP
with the foreign Press ls also
something to contend with'
This is well illustrated bY
Richard SPencer's resPonse
on TelegraPh.co'uk:
from that Point on the
(hinese government
was author of its own
misfortune. The minute
theY decided to shut
out iournalists from
all libetan areas, theY
were clearlY going to be
widelY disbelieved on
the question of whether
the cackdown from
there on was merelY
oPPressive (hundreds
of thousands of ttooPs
pouring in) or rePressive
as well (Protests fired
on, Protesters killed,
monks and laY PeoPle
awaY and
taken
beaten)"
China was obviouslY in
thing a Catch-22: either open
them,
up to the foreign media more or less forced to be
Western PresumPtions
or suffer embarrassing accountable to one another'
that democratic freedoms
reports which they cannot Not exactly an earth-
of speech would naturaltY
disprove. In comParison' shatterinq Paradigm shift
threaten autocratic reglmes'
Spencer notes now
The News Checker blog
(Andr6 Bazin's term for a
welcoming the Pro-Tibet
quoted earlier seems to revolution in culture and
camp is to reporters, ano
in modes of thinking), but
although they may have an
confirm such sPeculation:
a firm indication that tne
But China gained a
agenda, theY give journalists
lot. .. {hinese are
media of the future should
apoint of view and a
united now... China not be lacking in richness
narrative to work with, as
are still China' we alc
and controversY'
opposed to the total silence
united before anY <risis
on the Chinese camP' Under Rachel Ng was a Media Studies
such circumstances, it is
and en€mies.
student in Hong Kong and is
Ultimately, it's hard to
hard, he suggests, notto be now studYing Litetature at
determine who the big
biased.
winner is. But what we
Yotk UniversitY.
But something tells
can safelY deduce that the
us that the Chinese
whole debate has offered
authorities are not too
worried. Alongside the imPortant clues as to what
unblocking of the English the future of globalised
journalism might look
BBC website, YouTube and
parts of WikiPedia also like - chaotic, but PernaPs
in a good way. Absolute
became available to the
power would not reside
Chinese for the first time
lt
in anY of the Parties (the
seems to indicate a certain
media, the audience or the
confidence that freedom
government), and instead'
of information and
theY will be subsumed
exPression might work
for rather than against
under an overarching