How do Chinese and Western media view China-Tibet relation?

Conclusion


My quick survey on the topic that how Chinese and Western media views China-Tibet relation reveals that both Chinese and Western media both distorted their accounts under the influence of politics and ideology.  Different strategies of propaganda are used, but the results are same: neither Chinese citizen nor Western citizen can make an objective and informed judgment because of such media bias. Our sincere hope is that the media only offers the truth, leaving the room for its readers to judge by themselves. But hope is hope. Unfortunately, the way the media organizes its report, the picture it uses and the emphasis it attains greatly shape our viewpoints. Comparison of the reports from Chinese and Western resources reveals a disappointing fact: It is hard to realize to what degree we have been deprived of the rights of independent thinking by media’s propaganda, and it is even harder to get out of such implicit control.


 

Then, if the bias is unavoidable, why there still exist scholars and journalists trying in vain to report the “truth”? Their efforts, from my point of view, are not in vain. Even though the debate on the Tibetan Question is continuing and the agreement is almost impossible to achieve; even though the stereotypes and lies about Tibet are still prevailing in both China and Western world, every effort in promoting the understanding on Tibet counts. Pro-Tibet activists may argue that Tibet needs freedom; Pro-China activists may claim that Tibet needs stability and development; but I want to suggest that Tibet just needs more understanding, not only on its past and present, but also on what “freedom”, “stability” and “development” mean for the Tibetan people.