China: Bloggers declare war on Western media's Tibet coverage

Once the news of Tibetans slicing children's ears off and burning people alive sunk in, Chinese netizens worldwide seized onto initial misreported details from the situation in Tibet and don't seem willing to let this one go. In fact, they've declared cyberwar on major western media outlets, and anti-CNN.com is campaign headquarters.

As words like Tibet and Lhasa moved to the top of the GFW keyword list following the outbreak of violence and unrest in southwestern China earlier this month, a lot of attention to root causes to the Tibet situation simply stopped at anti-CNN.com's collection of photos, screenshots, furious accusations and non-sequiturs, most of which might hold up under scrutiny, as the collection made for convenient paste-and-copy blogging.

For bloggers trapped between two sides in a ruthless propaganda battle that has seen lives lost and a large part of China placed under military lock-down, there's of course a lot of frustration being felt about how to even begin blogging the situation. Then there are facts such as that young Tibetan militants in exile fully intended to created a disturbance in Lhasa for this year's Tibetan National Uprising Day and have talked openly about doing so for the past several months.

So how does one start addressing this now unfortunately prevalent attitude among Chinese bloggers seen in the intro on anti-CNN.com?

认清西方媒体卑鄙无耻的真面目

See the true despicable and shameless face of western media

长期以来,以CNN、BBC为代表的西方某些媒体借新闻自由之名
对广大发展中国家进行了肆无忌惮的污蔑和诋毁
为了达到他们不可告人的目的
他们栽赃陷害、颠倒黑白、混淆是非、无中生有……真是无所不用其极

For a long time now, certain western media best represented by CNN and BBC, in the name of press freedom
have been unscrupulously slandering and defaming developing nations
In order to achieve their unspoken goal
They mislead and they ensnare, switching black for white, confusing right and wrong, fabricating…willing to go to any length

在对2008年3月西藏骚乱的报道中
西方媒体的表演再一次向世人展示了他们丑恶的真实面目

本网站旨在收集、整理并发布西方主流媒体作恶的证据

如果您看到任何西方媒体作恶的证据,请千万不要轻易放过他们
把它们保存起来并寄给我们
多收集一份他们的罪证,就是为我们争取到了多一点的空间

我们关注所有西方媒体(不只是CNN),不限语言、内容(文本或图片)和国家

In their reports on the riots in Tibet
Western media's performance once again shows to the world their repulsive true face

This website seeks to collect, organize and publish the proof of the evil of western mainstream media

If you see any proof of Western media's evil, please do not whatsoever let them get off easily
Please save it and send it to us
The more evidence of their crimes we collect, the more space we'll have fought and won for ourselves

We are concerned with all western media (not only CNN), and not limited by language, content (text or photos) or country

这将是一场反抗西方话语霸权的斗争
我们应该充分认识到这场斗争的长期性、艰巨性和复杂性
但无论怎样,我们都坚信:

西方国家妄图通过几个破媒体就一张臭嘴遮天的日子将一去不返了!

This is a struggle of resistance against western hegemonic discourse
We need to fully recognize that this will be a long-term, difficult and complex battle
But regardless of the outcome, we all firmly believe:

Western nations’ days of using several of their crap media in an absurd attempt to fool people with their rotten words will soon be over for good!

Please see Global Voices Online's ongoing collection of related links at our special feature Tibet Protests 2008.

185 comments

  • Dan

    Dear John Kennedy,

    Who are you? Is there anything at all in your background that qualifies you to write about the Tibetan people’s predicament? Do you have a degree in Tibetan studies? I just wonder. No problem though. Most people speaking up on this issue are ill equipped. That goes for east and west both.

  • maksud Haque

    Why do John needs a degree in Tibetan studies?? oh,wat a rude response by DAN !!

  • sun

    i think the blog chose by john is just the insensible part of chinese blogs. if you want to learn the main stream of what chinese are thinking these days on the issue,you should not just read these ones which are as simple as a reply posted on bbs. yes, we felt anger but we are thinking at the same time.

    1 http://www.hecaitou.net/?p=2686
    2 http://www.dowant.com/blog/post/193.html

    http://www.gxnews.com.cn/staticpages/20080324/newgx47e7021e-1425147.shtml
    see it by your self.

  • Son of Lei Feng

    Who are you, Dan?

    How are you equipped?

    Faceless as you are, you can’t call for fairness!

    Let us know who you are.

  • Dan

    I know it was rude, but t[he]y had it coming. Beijing journalists and Sinologists don’t have a clue what Tibetans have on their minds. But how could they? They’ve never tried to find out. And CP keeps them silenced, just as they are silencing them at this moment. Like that’s a smart move that worked so well before.

    Let me see, how to put it more nicely, Running dogs of the Beijing imperialists? Nah, just a tad strong.

    Anyway, most academic Tibetologists have long been cowed into silence. Perhaps many are afraid to say what they know. PRC repression oppresses us all. After all, most of them have Tibetan friends in the PRC and TAR. You guys are right. It’s too dangerous to tell the truth about the situation. I’ll shut up now. Go back to reading my Tibetan books. You go back to reading your Chinese. But only if you guys will promise to keep your mouths shut, too.

  • Dan

    Sun,

    I tried those URLs you sent me, but interesting thing is they absolutely refuse to open for me.

    And to everyone else, the statement I most vigorously object to is this one:

    “young Tibetan militants in exile fully intended to created a disturbance in Lhasa for this year’s Tibetan National Uprising Day and have talked openly about doing so for the past several months”

    The link given here says no such thing. It does make inuendos that the TYC MUST HAVE BEEN planning something on that particular day (that they are always planning things goes without saying; they are a dissident group within the Tibetan diaspora; not representative of it). But there is not one lick of evidence for this. Only suspicion. The demonstrations occurred through a clear chain of events from March 9, not March 10, and there is no evidence whatsoever for any foreign hand’s involvement. Nobody expected it to turn out as it did. It took everyone by surprise. Tibetan people have grievances. Face up to it. Don’t sweep it under the rug and “blame the foreign hand” as was always done in the past. That’s not working.

  • Son of Lei Feng

    By the way: How long times will it take before the fragile and sensitive Chinese government will allow the World to see an ‘anti-xinhoa.cn’ website, with all the lies, falsehoods and untold stories from Xinhoa, and the bouquet of newspapers Xinhoa are feeding.

    From then, I am sure the World – or at least China will be a better place…

  • @Dan
    This is all I can find on short notice. There are BBC Chinese reports which go back earlier, but I’ll need more time to dig those up. Emphasis below is mine.

    “The march will start on 10 March 2008, from Dharamsala, the capital of Tibetan exiles and will pass through Delhi and then head towards Tibet. Walking for six months, we might reach the Tibet border around the time China opens the Beijing 2008 Olympics (August 14-25). Presently it’s too early to approximate at which border point we would be crossing; Tibet and India share a border that runs 4,075 Km along the length of the Himalayas. We might choose any point, or even multiple points. We’ll see the situation.

    I know there had been similar attempts in the past, but this is 2008…..
    [snip]
    ….[e]ver since the march was announced on 4th January 2008, Tibetans have been talking about it; it’s a major discussion in the refugee camps. Recently the organizers launched the entry form. And I heard people are slowly getting themselves registered. You too can register your volunteer online. For more information please visit: http://www.TibetanUprising.org For enquiries email the coordinators: Lobsang yeshi or sherab woser.

    Join us.

    Tenzin Tsundue
    Dharamsala”

    link: http://yesworldblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/walking-to-tibet-again.html

    comment update
    Took me well over an hour, but here are those links:
    http://chinaconfidential.blogspot.com/2008/01/tibetan-exiles-in-india-plan-march-on.html
    http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7170000/newsid_7171600/7171692.stm

  • newsmthjoke

    http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/24/content_7850917.htm

    see this XinHua comment
    “裁剪的历史不是真实的历史,正义不会因蒙蔽而失去力量。” ……….
    what a joke!

  • Charles Liu

    Can you blame them?

    Anyway it doesn’t matter now, the damage is already done, and just like the “TAM Massacare”, this “Tibet Massacare” public opinin, has yet again been manufactured by our milityar-industrial-media-complex.

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