BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese public is venting its spleen online over inaccurate reports about the Tibet riot by some Western media groups.
Since March 20, various inaccurate photos that claimed to be of the Lhasa riot on March 14 by Western media were collected and uploaded on the Internet by some Chinese overseas students.
The collection comprised 11 pictures and footage broadcast by Cable News Network (CNN), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and other foreign media where netizens highlighted the mistaken captions accompanying the images.
A picture on CNN's website showed people running in front of a military truck. In the original picture, mobsters throwing stones at the truck were cropped out by the U.S.-based network.
On the BBC website, a picture showing Chinese Armed Police officers helping medical staff move a wounded person into an ambulance was captioned "there is a heavy military presence in Lhasa".
The obvious references of First Aid and Red Cross signs on the ambulance were dutifully neglected.
Fox TV, the Washington Post, Berliner Morning post and other Western media were also singled-out in the collection.
After the images were released, netizens also started a signature collection campaign on www.china.com. So far, tens of thousands of signatures have been collected.
Most of the postings on the forum indicated the Western media had favored the rioters.
Rao Jin, a Tsinghua University graduate, publicized the websitewww.anti-cnn.com to display the picture and snapshots. "CNN is just one example of the Western media. What stands behind the distortion is misunderstanding and bias toward China," he said.
One of the biggest Chinese websites www.sina.com opened a special link to talk about the Western media distortion of the Lhasa riot, a discussion that drew millions of participants.
To date, the German-based RTL TV and N-TV had made corrections on their website on March 23 and 24, respectively, and apologized to the public.
The Washington Post publicized an editor's note on March 24, saying the caption for an earlier version of a slideshow on the Tibet riot was incorrectly associated with a photo from Nepal where Nepalese uniformed police dispel Tibetans. The caption on the new version was corrected.
On the www.anti-cnn.com, netizens continued to pressure Western media, including CNN and BBC, to apologize to their Chinese audience.
A Chinese who immigrated to Canada posted a video clip on youtube.com entitled "Tibet was, is and will always be a part of China".
The producer, using the Internet name of Huang Jinshao, said he had received more than 500 e-mails of support within four hours of the posting. The clip had been viewed nearly 1.2 million times in three days.
"I want Chinese people's voice to be heard," the man said.
Foreigners in Tibet: Western media reports not conform with facts
LHASA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- While some Western media rashly accuse China of "violent crackdown" on the "peaceful protests" in Tibet, some foreigners there disagreed.
"Many reports were not accurate," said Tony Gleason, field director of Tibet Poverty Alleviation Fund, an American organization which helps poor Tibetans through skill training and small sum of financing. Full story
German news television regrets error in covering Tibet riots
BERLIN, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Germany's RTL television said on Sunday that it "regrets an error" in covering the riots in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
The TV station admitted on its website that it "used a picture in a wrong context." Full text
German media apologize for errors in covering Tibet riots
BERLIN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Two German news organizations have apologized after being accused of distorting facts in covering the riots in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
German news television N-TV on Monday admitted that a picture and a video sequence it used on March 20 in a report about the riots in Tibet had actually been taken in Nepal, a neighboring country of China. Full text
Netizens slam CNN's distortion of riot picture
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 cropped," 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 at the truck. Full text
