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”.
