Distorted Western reports spark protests from netizens
Eighteen innocent civilians were killed and direct property losses of more than 100 million yuan were incurred in the unrest that rocked Lhasa, capital of Tibet, on March 14. During the orgy of violence, mobsters attacked not only passersby but also government organs. Police and riot police, led by the Tibet regional committee of the Communist Party of China and the government, cracked down on the rioters strictly according to the law and maintained law and order in the region.
However, some major Western media completely ran against the basic principles of objectivity and impartiality in their reports about the riots in Tibet.
The CNN website publicized a picture showing people running in front of two military trucks on March 17. The original picture uploaded by netizens, however, actually also shows about 10 mobsters throwing stones at the trucks. Obviously, the website intentionally clipped parts of the picture that show the real image of the picture.
Just in the same day, a picture on the BBC website showing Chinese riot police officers helping medical staff move a wounded person into an ambulance was captioned "there is a heavy military presence in Lhasa". The Chinese characters "Jijiu" (First Aid) on the ambulance were so conspicuous and event for those who don't know Chinese characters well, the Red Cross signs on the ambulance were also obvious to see. Evidently, the references of First Aid and Red Cross signs on the ambulance were dutifully neglected.
Berliner Morningpost published a picture on its website on March 18 with a caption "Police are arresting Tibetans." However, the real image is that police are rescuing injured people.
More notably, the websites of Germany's Bild newspaper, N-TV and RTL TV, and the Washington Post all used pictures of baton-wielding Nepalese police in clashes with Tibetan protesters in Kathmandu, claiming that the officers were Chinese police. However, the fact is that Nepalese security forces were confronting demonstrators with batons.
All the above-mentioned Western media completely turned blind eyes to the principles of fairness and objectivity, which they have been preaching, in the reports about riots in Tibet. Their distorted reports are far from mistakes they claimed.
Chinese netizens angered by biased and sometimes dishonest reports about the recent riots in Tibet by some Western media established the anti-cnn website in order to collect and make public the biased reports and shed light on the truth that the Western media are aimed at tarnishing the image of China.
The RTL TV admitted on March 23 that their report on Tibet was inaccurate and said sorry for that. Few media other than RTL have made sincere apology for their distorted reports.