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Is CNN faithfully citing its news sources?

Probably it’s a minor glitch, but it’s worth noting here anyway given the deteriorating reputation of CNN in the world of news report. If we look at this report on CNN: first CNN claims that they were denied permission to visit Tibet with a group of foreign reporters, then the fact came that the news on that page was cited from Associated Press. Apparently this news report was written by Charles Hutzler, Beijing bureau chief for The Associated Press. However, if we examine the details of the news on this page, there are quite a few discrepancies with the actual AP report found elsewhere: if we do a Google search using the first sentence of this report “Police closed off Lhasa’s Muslim quarter on Friday“, 11900 search results are found. Interestingly, every link (for example, the report from Time) contain exactly the same content except that on CNN website. Interested readers should check it out and sense the words CNN used on its news page in addition to the original AP report and it would be interesting to know where CNN obtained this extra information since they were not allowed to get in Tibet since March 14th. Now the only thing is whether CNN’s act here is a breach of the copyright by AP in terms of adulterating their own opinions and interpretations and blending them into the AP report.

Below are some quotes from CNN page but not found elsewhere, is this what CNN had claimed “CNN’s reputation is based on reporting global news accurately and impartially“, is it a joke?

A woman who answered the phone at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said she did not know about the trip. She would not give her name, as is common among Chinese bureaucrats. (As if anonymity of commentators or alike doesn’t exist elsewhere, is this CNN’s opinion or fact?)

“They killed many people. They killed many people,” another monk said, referring to Chinese security forces.

vs. Time report: “They killed many people,” another monk said, referring to Chinese security forces. (lies, even repeated a thousand times, won’t become reality”.

A vice-governor of Tibet, Baima Chilin, later told reporters the monks would not be punished. “We will never do anything to them. We will never detain anyone you met on the streets of Lhasa. I don’t think any government would do such a thing,” he said.

And a whole section here, pay attention to the words that CNN used (underlined)

Other than the incident at the Jokhang, one of Tibetan Buddhism’s holiest shrines, most of the second day of the tour went according to plan, with officials sticking to the government line that the most violent anti-Chinese protests in nearly two decades were plotted by supporters of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama has denied the accusations and threatened to resign as head of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile if the violence continued.

The government says at least 22 people have died in Lhasa; Tibetan rights groups say nearly 140 Tibetans were killed, including 19 in Gansu province.

One of the monks protesting Thursday said the death toll was far higher than the government was saying, but did not give the source of his information.

“The cadres and the army killed more than 100 Tibetans. They arrested more than a thousand,” he said.

After the violent 1989 uprising in Lhasa, Tibetans claimed many more Tibetans died than the official toll of 16 because families feared punishment if participants went to hospitals.

Fu Jun, head of the News Affairs Office of the Propaganda Department of the Tibet Communist Party, said Friday the monks were spreading rumors.

“We are keeping an open mind about their complaints. The rumor is misleading the media without a shred of evidence … We will clear up facts in a few days time when appropriate,” Fu said.

The Chinese-installed vice governor of Tibet, Baima Chilin, told the reporters late Thursday that the monks would not be punished for their outburst. (CNN is implying Tibet government is a puppet of the central government)

vs. Time “A vice governor of Tibet, Baima Chilin, later told reporters the monks would not be punished. “

State TV, which has widely covered the foreign journalists’ tour, showed the Jokhang visit on its evening newscast, but not the monks’ outburst.

Journalists were taken Friday morning to interview members of the Communist Party-run Buddhist Association, who reiterated standard Chinese accusations against the Dalai Lama.

“This was premeditated,” said Drubkang, a reincarnated lama and member of Beijing’s top government advisory body, who like many Tibetans uses just one name.

Last but not least, every other news sources attached the authors info:

Charles Hutzler, Beijing bureau chief for The Associated Press, was among a group of foreign journalists taken on a government-arranged trip to the Tibetan city of Lhasa.

What did CNN do? Nothing! Maybe CNN shouldn’t have used the AP as the gee-string to hide its own subjective dirty “news synthesis”.

Rebuttal of CNN statement

CNN has denied allegations by Anti-cnn.com and claim what they did was justifiable. Here is an article that was published on mitbbs and more details will be released in the future.

Quote:

It’s good to know that CNN has realized the tremendously negative publicity it had earned itself over the Internet recently, and it has abandoned its usual “keep silent” way of dealing with credibility charges by putting out a statement clearing itself on its Tibet coverage, which had been criticized for distorting facts and taking side by many bloggers and news agencies all over the world. The pressure must have been huge that CNN the experienced defendant against credibility accusations (number speaks, googling “CNN lies” returns 653,000 results, more than double of the 305,000 results for “Spitzer prostitution”, the hottest news this year) has to respond.

As witnesses of the false reports from CNN, we recognize the effort CNN makes to polish its stained image, however, we find the statement in whole an evasive piece trying to make excuses. We feel pity for CNN again being such a dishonest and unapologetic news agency.

Let’s take a quick look at what CNN has to say, we will find CNN’ s excuse for cropping picture laughable. Web based publication has great deal of freedom in presenting multimedia materials including pictures. CNN could have posted the picture in its entirety while moving text to the rest of the area without any trouble at all. Web pages are not printed materials, resizing and reframing paragraphs are virtually costless and effortless. In fact, after being attacked for cropping the picture, CNN modified the page to put a resized version of the entire original photo, without having to move text format at all. Then we have a further question, why did CNN have to crop it in the first place? Also, CNN argues in the statement that the picture was captioned “Tibetans throw stones”, then by what motive would a rational editor crop out the exact part of people throwing stones? No excuse can possibly be found to justify the discrepancy between what CNN d
id and what CNN claims. Besides, CNN’s factual mistakes are not limited to the picture or calling Tibet as a country. During it TV airing until as late as March 21st, when multiple sources had confirmed Tibet riot violent and deadly, CNN anchors repeated called Tibetan turbulence a “peaceful protest”. It was exceptionally misleading and was a major distortion of fact. Even after www.anti-CNN.com had published the mistakes of CNN and other news outlets, Lou Dobbs of CNN continued to use the same wrong descriptions in his TV show. Even an unprofessional team would not be a strong excuse to make up for this.

CNN also repetitively refused to identify the dead as victims of the riot, and in their context spread the impression that they were protesters left dead by government actions, while in fact, they were murdered by those CNN-called “peaceful protesters”.

CNN’s distortions and lies are not sparse editorial or technical mistakes. They are consistent and still on-going, in favor of their side of the stories.

In addition, CNN has in its reports repetitively excluded Tibetan ethnics from the Chinese. This is unacceptable. It is just similar to calling African American and Caucasian American as Blacks and American.

While the German new agency RTL had quickly acknowledged and apologized for its mistake after www.anti-cnn.com pointed it out, professionals in journalism at CNN still refuse to acknowledge mistakes and redeem trust. We have to say, the denial issued today was just a weak and pathetic attempt to weasle away from the systematic lying campaign CNN had conducted in the past weeks.

Impostors among the monks?

Over the Thursday incident that some 30 young monks approached the journalists in the Jokhang Temple and demanded they needed freedom, and at the same time, accused that the government had planted fake monks among them in order to show the visitors that the situation had been contained and normal life had been restored. This is interesting. Needless to say, the Chinese government has to be blamed for their careful so-called “orchestrated” organization of this visit, again, they don’t know how to handle the reporter from the “free world”. But on the other hand, let’s look at this from another prospective: if the government really wanted to plant impostors in the temples and orchestrate a peaceful event, why didn’t they just simply replace all of the real monks and order the army men or whoever that have short hair to sit there while the journalists stopped by, can they tell the difference? Remember Lhasa had been sealed off for so many days and the authority surely could do it with little effort.

Furthermore, why were these monks in such a hurry to defend Dalai Lama? Didn’t they understand what they were doing only fuel people’s suspicion that someone has to sit behind all these and plays the dirty game?

And look one of my older posts below and see how peaceful these monks are. And again, why pick this time to demonstrate? The Guardian answers it all.

I feel pity for these monks.

The problem with Tibet

A critic’s view over Tibet issue. On top of what he said in this article, like I have said over and over again, it’s about the conflict between the west and east, it has nothing to do with what these pro-Tibet people claimed: to return rights to the Tibetan people.

The Guardian

This is crackdown?

As the Western countries have named it? What a shame! Regardless of what China does, it’s evil for sure, that’s their basic logic, that’s all, end of question, isn’t it?

Washington Post

Crazy monks

Imagine if this is happening in LA, where the African Americans attacking the police, what will the police do instead of holding their shields and doing nothing? Why do the western governments keep saying that the Chinese government should refrain?

An ABC article

Link

For the westerners taking for granted that their media is definitely more trustworthy than the “biased” Chinese propaganda machine, here I suggest a solution, go find a common Chinese living among you, and you could choose one that has stayed in the US for 10, 20 years to make sure the “brain-washing” by the Chinese government has faded to a negligible level, ask him/her what he/she thinks over this issue. I bet over 99% of them would say the same thing to you, that Tibet is a part of China and will forever be. I don’t understand why the word “crackdown” is being used over and over again while there is not a single piece of news that actually shows the fact that Chinese army is “cracking down” on something, remember, prior to March 14th there were still tons of westerners including reporters in Lhasa and some even remained much later. In 1989, at least the Western media had some pictures depicting atrocity of the army, for example, tank vs. a man. But this time can you? Is this the major reason that you crop the pictures and sling mud against the Chinese government? Another fact is that the majority of people making comments in English forums and alike attacking Western media like yours, I guarantee you, are oversea Chinese, so you can accuse them all bribed by the Chinese government? Give me a break! It is these people that can look both ways in Chinese media and here in the west and draw their own conclusions. The fact that some of the information revealed by oversea Chinese was actually used in China official media is a good example. Many Chinese travel overseas and want to experience the idea of democracy and freedom of speech from you people and you only have this ugly side to show? Come on…
About previous post regarding the American people having the freedom to voice your opinion against the Iraq war, here is the bitter fact, no one in your own government would give it a damn on what you say. So you believe in your dem’s candidates to withdraw the troops from Iraq? Think again… I bet he/she won’t do it either before the situation is in real control, now that is called propaganda or brain-washing, only after you cast your ballot, you’ll find out that you’ve been sold again. The democracy that you have been enjoying, after all, may be merely Emperor’s New Clothes, if not worse.

For those of you who claimed China invaded Tibet in 1951

Let’s see what the U.S. government has been saying over the years, so feel free to hurl rocks toward them:

“For its part, the Government of the United States has borne in mind the fact that the Chinese Government has long claimed sovereignty over Tibet and that the Chinese constitution lists Tibet among areas constituting the territory of the Republic of China. This Government has at no time raised a question regarding either of these claims.” Department of State, 15 May 1943

“I stated that, despite the large degree of autonomy that existed in Tibet, the U.S. Government had traditionally recognized and continued to recognize the de jure sovereignty of China, with whom we maintained the most cordial relations.” Fulton Freeman, Department of State, August 1948

“What is U.S. policy toward Tibet? The United States considers the Tibet Autonomous Region or TAR hereafter referred to as “Tibet” as part of the People’s Republic of China. This long-standing policy is consistent with the view of the entire international community, including all China’s neighbors: no country recognizes Tibet as a sovereign state. U.S. acceptance of China’s claim of sovereignty over Tibet predates the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. For instance, in 1942, we told the Nationalist Chinese government then headquartered in Chongqing (Chungking) that we had ‘at no time raised (a) question’ over Chinese claims to Tibet.” Jeffrey Bader, Department of State, testimony to the Congress, 13 May 1997

“Historically, the United States has acknowledged Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. Since at least 1966, U.S. policy has explicitly recognized the Tibetan Autonomous Region…as part of the People’s Republic of China.” Department of State, Relations of the United States with Tibet, 1995

Will the real Dalai Lama please stand up

Pasadena Weekly

By Hannah Naiditch 02/07/2008

Recently President Bush presented the Dalai Lama the Gold Medal, Congress’s highest and most prestigious civilian award. It was a glamorous ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, attended by the rich and famous. Senators Diane Feinstein, Robert Byrd, Harry Reid, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were among the hundreds of admirers.

Actor Richard Gere, his spokesman and one of his biggest fans, proclaimed “It’s that just by the proximity to him, you will get spiritually healed,” and he called him “the greatest living human.”

President Bush called him a “universal symbol of peace and tolerance, a shepherd of the faithful and a keeper of the flame for his people.”

The Dalai Lama also has his critics. Author Michael Parenti sees him as reflecting a distressing symbiosis between religion and violence. Historian Howard Zinn expresses disappointment in the Dalai Lama’s suggestion to wait a few years before judging the war in Iraq, when this preemptive and illegal war is such a clear-cut moral issue.

So what are we to make of the Dalai Lama? Who is this frail man, his hands folded as if in permanent prayer, with a smile that rarely leaves his face and a bow in deference to those who cross his path? He moves slowly and gracefully and he talks a lot about forgiveness and peace.

This apparently gentle man is the 14th of a long line of reborn Dalai Lamas who ruled over a brutal feudal theocracy where disobedience was not tolerated. Punishment ranged from loss of limbs to the gouging out of eyes and flogging people to death.

It was a country where most of the population were serfs and slaves, totally accountable to their masters. Some slaves tried to survive by begging. A few hundred privileged families shared power with the Dalai Lama and owned most of the land. The old Tibet was far removed from the freedom that Dalai Lama and his supporters are talking about. There were no schools, no healthcare, and the literacy rate was about 5 percent.

There are those who see the Dalai Lama as a man of contradictions and they see his admirers as gullible and misinformed. He has expressed his belief that modern science takes precedence over ancient religions, but he ruled over a medieval and brutal theocracy. He preaches peace but refuses to pass judgment on Iraq.

Is the Dalai Lama speaking out of both sides of his mouth, trying to play it safe and to offend nobody? It seems clear that this seemingly meek gentleman is a shrewd observer of human events. To many observers he remains an enigma.

Was Tibet ever this romantic, Hollywood-style Shangri La? Were the Tibetan people, with their colorful garments, bells, and horns, really content as they submitted to the rituals of prayer and as they clapped their hands to get rid of doubts and harmful emotions, hoping for greater awareness and enlightenment? Or did they not know any better as they spent their lives in this remote and isolated society? Did China destroy Shangri-La and a beautiful ancient culture or did they liberate and modernize a backward and brutal kingdom?

China invaded Tibet in 1959. The foreign-sponsored uprising was easily crushed and the Dalai Lama with his riches and thousands of followers fled to India, where he set up his government in exile. The “Free Tibet” movement and the west would like to return the Dalai Lama to his throne. The Dalai Lama himself claims that he is not seeking independence but “meaningful autonomy,” while China accuses the Dalai Lama of a hidden agenda.

China has significantly altered Tibet’s social structure. China has constructed roads and introduced light industry. They built hundreds of schools and life expectancy has dramatically improved. Michael Parenti among others points out that the Chinese abolished slavery, built hospitals, and eliminated mutilations, floggings and amputations.

They introduced land reform. Acres of land formerly owned by nobles and lamas were distributed to landless peasants. Not many Tibetans would choose to go back to slavery and grinding poverty. They don’t look at the Chinese occupation as Paradise Lost.

One of the Dalai Lama’s missions is to preserve and to keep the ancient Tibetan culture alive. But what is this cultural heritage that the Dalai Lama is trying to preserve? Does it include the teaching of the feudal system, and the need for slavery and absolute obedience? Does it teach the poor that their life of suffering is due to the evil acts they committed in previous lives and that they must accept their life of misery as atonement for past sins?

For the Tibetans the issue is whether you hold on to an ancient culture of social injustice or you support moving into the modern age. Many former serfs have sided with China.

Indications are that the powerful lamas and their ancient culture that this Dalai Lama wants to preserve may be a thing of the past unless foreign troops try to change the course of history.