1. Ben Askins

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 pm

   Hey Rex,
   I’ve been really surprised by your posts on this topic. Obviously none of the reporting coming out of Tibet is completely unbiased, but “false media propoganda”, that’s a bit rich. Especially compared with China’s reporting of the same incidents. I appeal to you reason for some objectivity on this matter. Obviously emotions run high on both sides of this debate. But like I said, I’m really surprised at the words you use.
   cheers,
   Ben

2. rex chung

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm

   Hi Ben,
   I use those words because the matter is not simply a biased report. I have personally seen Channel7 news using video clips from Nepalese police bashing Lama monks to report the China-Tibet situation in regards to the Olympic torch. That is obviously false reporting.

   The China government may cover up news from its people, I don’t deny that. But to show false images of an event and starting rumors about other countries is just wrong.
   If you check out anti-cnn.com, there’s some evidence of this.

3. Ben Askins

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm

   But there’s a difference between “false reporting” and “propoganda”. Incorrect footage is used every night on the news, and we as intelligent people are aware of this and need to distinguish between the footage that is shown and the reporting of what is actually happening. I looked at anti-cnn.com a few weeks ago. It’s unfortunate that this deliberately misleading use of footage has become the focus rather than what is actually happening in Tibet today, and what has been happening since the 1951 occupation of Tibet by China.

4. rex chung

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 12:53 pm

   If it was falsely reported in odd occasions, it maybe considered as mistakes. However, this seems to be a continuous false reporting across multiple countries and mediums. There’s certainly some people behind all this, manipulating the media, which fits into the definition of propaganda nicely.

   “Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of large numbers of people. Instead of impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience. Propaganda is most frequently employed in the service of political and military ends.”

5. Ben Askins

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 2:01 pm

   I didn’t say the false reporting was a mistake. I fall somewhere in the middle and don’t jump to the conclusion that there’s some shadowy group pulling the strings behind the entire worlds media causing them to report falsley on the situation in Tibet. The more sensational the media can report a story, the more eyeballs they get, the more advertising they can sell. It’s that simple. We don’t need to invent conspiracy theories to come up with a reason why the media uses false footage. There’s nothing remotely propoganda like about the media’s reporting of this issue. China on the otherhand continues to present facts selectively.

6. Ben Askins

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 2:06 pm

   I really want to engage you here Rex, not alienate you. But if you really do believe that there is consistently false reporting on the issues in Tibet around the world, then I challenge you to point me to examples here… http://search.us.reuters.com/query/?q=%74%69%62%65%74&st=0&s=US. Or here… http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&hl=en&ned=us&q=tibet&btnG=Search+News

7. rex chung

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm

   That’s ok Ben. Everyone can have their own opinion, I am not trying to convert anyone to pro-china. I’m enjoying this open discussions.

   I think from seeing the list of news titles from those pages, we’re already in the middle of my theory of ‘propaganda’. The riots in Tibet were wrongly portrayed in the first place. Not only did it not condemn the Tibetans for killing Chinese people but the media flipped it around to start a human rights debate. Now in everybody’s mind, it’s Chinese fault for suppressing Tibet. And then all the news is supporting the underdog of the debate and hoping Tibetans could have their say. It doesn’t matter if these stories are the truth or not, as the perspective of the whole story has already flipped around.

8. Ben Askins

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm

   Hi Rex,
   I’ve just looked through anti-cnn.com again, and I’ve got to say, if that’s your source of information on the matter I don’t think we’ll ever see eye to eye on this one and will have to just agree to disagree. Please diregard my previous comment challenging you to find evidence of consistent false reporting.
   Hope all is well with you.
   cheers,
   Ben

9. Simon Rumble

   Apr 23rd, 2008 at 2:42 pm

   The rather ironic thing about this whole discussion is that you wouldn’t be able to have this discussion in China, let alone in Tibet.

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