Netizens slam CNN´s distortion of riot picture

Source: Xinhua | 03-23-2008 15:38

BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of netizens have answered calls to condemn CNN and a few other western media organizations for distorting facts in covering the riot in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

"The fairness and objectivity of CNN is subject to cuts," said one of the postings at the online forum of www.china.com., referring to a CNN website picture showing people running in front of a military truck. The original picture uploaded by Chinese netizens, however, actually also shows mobsters throwing stones to the truck.

"CNN has cut the part of mobsters attacking the military truck? That's misleading the public," said a posting by Sanfeng.

The netizens say that CNN and some western media organizations have intentionally neglected cruelties of the mobsters, revealing the hypocrisy of "objectivity and fairness" they had flaunted.

CNN caption of another picture on its website said that some "Tibetan youth" were attacking a "Chinese".

"Aren't Tibetan youth also Chinese? I doubt whether the editor has ever studied history," said one of the postings.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) released a picture on its website showing Chinese Armed Police officers helping medical staff move a wounded person into an ambulance.

The website's caption said that "there is a heavy military presence in Lhasa", neglecting obvious "First Aid" and red cross signs on the ambulance.

German newspaper Berlin Morning post posted a picture on its website in which police in Lhasa rescued a young man of Han nationality assaulted by rioters. But the caption said "insurrectionist taken away by police".

American Fox TV said in a picture's caption on its website that Chinese military dragged some protestors onto a vehicle but actually the uniformed people were Indian police.

N-TV headquartered in Germany used a TV footage in which Nepalese police captured protestors to report riot in Tibet.

Netizens on the on-line forum of www.huanqiu.com said that to uglify the Chinese government image with unfounded materials has been frequently used by some overseas media.

One netizen said a Canadian traveler who witnessed the riot in Lhasa wrote it in his blog: those riots assaulted civilians and policemen, which would have been cracked down on more severely if happened in western countries.

"Why no major overseas media has cited these words?" the netizen criticized.

The Canadian traveler also took a picture of Chinese Armed Police building up a human wall using shields to defend stones and bricks thrown by rioters and put it in his blog.

Although the picture has been published by the New York Times on its front page, the caption made no mention of the attack of the rioters.

Editor:Xiong Qu