Media toe party line on Tibet crisis

By Lewis Macleod BBC Monitoring

Authorities blamed mobs for the violence (Image from CCTV 4)

During the current crisis in Tibet, Chinese media have stuck to their primary function of shaping popular attitudes and mobilising support for party priorities rather than providing a spectrum of views on public issues.

The Chinese media have offered a different perspective on the events in Tibet to that of Western media, focusing on instability and lawlessness.

Tibetan rioters in Lhasa "either burned or hacked to death 13 innocent civilians" and "those who have committed serious crimes will be dealt with harshly", a Tibet administration spokesman said.

Official Tibetan Autonomous Region websites reported on the unrest in Lhasa.

They focused on blaming mobs of arsonists, looters and outlaw groups.

And on national Chinese Central TV, reports appeared only midway through news bulletins despite the severity of the China's biggest crisis in Tibet for 19 years.

Controlled media

The social and economic changes triggered by more than two decades of reform in China have led to equally sweeping changes in China's vast, state-controlled media environment, particularly in the quantity and diversity of media sources and the development of the internet.

The Chinese Communist Party not only tolerates much greater diversity in the media but has encouraged greater efforts to provide more diverse and relevant media content that resonates with the lives and interests of the population.

Despite these changes, however, all sensitive information continues to be filtered through party censors to ensure that it is consistent with official policy.

Tibet and its status as part of China along with the activities of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, are among the most delicate topics for the Chinese media.

With more than one billion viewers, television is the most popular source for news and the sector is competitive, especially in urban areas.

The availability of non-domestic TV is limited.

State-run CCTV has led a move from single-channel, narrowly-focused programming dominated by party propaganda to a proliferation of channels throughout China's television system, with a diversity of programming and news-packaging, and viewer-friendly formats and styles modelled after those of the West.

China's new urban elites can view reports on Tibet from foreign television through illegal satellite dishes and in wealthier areas where pay-for-view cable television is now offered.

Hong Kong television is now available legally in China's neighbouring Guangzhou city.

Internet curbs

But access to international broadcasters is limited, so domestic sources dominate usage across all media platforms.

The Chinese press is permitted to report corruption and inefficiency among officials, but the media as a whole avoid criticism of the Communist Party monopoly on power.

Ordinary readers have no access to foreign newspapers.

The internet scene in China is thriving, though controlled.

Beijing routinely blocks sites run by the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong, rights groups and some foreign news organizations.

China blocked access to YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, when clips of the Lhasa unrest started appearing on it.

An estimated 30,000 "internet police" reportedly enforce restrictions on the web.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

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