Tibet: divergent reporting

BY Dipu Shaw| IN Media Practice | 15/03/2009

A few days ago, The Hindu carried a news item wherein N. Ram, the editor-in- chief of the newspaper wrote, "The reality is that Tibet is on the road of rapid economic development and the atmosphere there is relaxed, not tense at all."

 Contrast this, with a BBC report a day later (Feb 28) that carried the headline, "Tibetan monk ¿shot¿ while on fire."

"A Tibetan monk has been shot after setting fire to himself during a protest at Beijing¿s rule, reports say. ....The protest began after more than 1,000 Tibetan Buddhist monks gathered at a temple in the town to celebrate the third day of the Tibetan New Year. Chinese officials had earlier banned the gathering. After the incident, news agencies reported a heavy police presence on the streets of the town."

March 10 marked the 50^th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule that had sent the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile in India. The Hindu interestingly calls it the day marking 50 years of Tibet’s "democratic reform", echoing the Chinese definition of the ‘Peaceful Liberation of Tibet’.

Almost all the national dailies had reports about the Tibetan uprising on the day that marked the Dalai Lama’s fifty years of living in exile. The Indian Express carried the headline, "The anatomy of an uprising". Hindustan Times had a report about the Dalai Lama’s speech, in Dharamsala on Monday and a review of Tibetan groups based there. The Times of India’s focus was on, "Tibet¿s 50 years of being too patient?"

The Hindu did not deem it necessary to mark the anniversary with any news report or editorial. The newspaper reported about the 50^th anniversary of the "Tibetan uprising" on the next day. In a report, "Pilgrims flock to Lhasa", filed from the Tibetan capital city, The Hindu emphasised how life in the holy city of Lhasa was quiet and peaceful even, "on the day marking 50 years of Tibet’s democratic reform."  Yet another article had the headline, "Dalai Lama’s comments are lies: Beijing". The newspaper it seems does not have any correspondents in India to report on events in Tibet, and except for a brief mention of Dharamsala, in northern India, where the exiled Tibetan leader lives, where it was stated that the Dalai Lama had "not announced any successor", there have been no stories filed from within the country. These recent stories on Tibet in The Hindu betray an attempt on the part of this national daily not to report issues impartially.

Mr. Ram’s adulatory comments in his articles on the development in Tibet came after he concluded a three-day visit to southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, his third visit since 2000. The headline of the signed article read, "Tibet on road of rapid uplift: N. Ram" The editor-in-chief wrote, "The contrast between the old and the new is very powerful, demonstrating what the Chinese government and the system have done for Tibet."

The other Indian dailies, including The Indian Express and The Times Of India, as well as the international newspapers, reported extensively on the Dalai Lama’s most stinging condemnation of the Chinese regime. The headlines in The Indian Express, BBC News, New York Times, rediff news etc. quoted the Tibetan leader’s strong criticism, "China has created hell on earth in Tibet". Dalai Lama said this addressing a gathering in Dharamsala on the eve of the 50^th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against the Chinese rule.  

The above-mentioned BBC report too further points out, "It is extremely difficult to independently confirm any information coming out of Tibetan areas. China¿s authorities have restricted access to the region." According to this report, more than 200 Tibetans are thought to have been killed in a Chinese crackdown in the region.

On March 4^th, the New York Times confirmed this in an article with the headline: "50 years after revolt, clampdown on Tibetans".

"…Now, the authorities have imposed an unofficial state of martial law on the vast highlands where ethnic Tibetans live, with thousands of troops occupying areas they fear could erupt in renewed rioting on a momentous anniversary next week. And Beijing is determined to keep foreigners from seeing the mass deployment."

One may wonder if N. Ram was one of these foreigners.

The news item continues, "…the Tibetan regions, a sprawling, lightly-populated swath of western China that measures about one-quarter of the country’s total territory, have become militarized zones. Sandbag outposts have been set up in the middle of towns, army convoys rumble along highways, and paramilitary officers search civilian cars. A curfew has been imposed on Lhasa, the Tibetan capital."

In the national press too news of this crackdown is substantiated. On March 9, in The Indian Express a correspondent filed the following news report from Daofu, a town in Sichuan province under the headline, "Beijing clamps down ahead of 50th anniversary of Tibetan uprising":

 "…Armoured troop carriers and tour buses packed with police roll along the winding mountain roads. Internet service is dead in some places. Military camps fortified with sandbags sit amid Tibetan communities, where strings of prayer flags flutter in the wind."

The Hindu’s stories of any incident related to Tibet and China stand out in stark contrast to similar stories filed in other news dailies, whether in India or the West. One is forced to speculate on the credibility of the newspaper.

Each and every newspaper¿s online version has a comments section, but not The Hindu. Why? Is there a fear?