News of Protests Is Hard to Find In China -- in Media or Online

NEWS OF PROTESTS IS HARD TO FIND IN CHINA -- IN MEDIA OR ONLINE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Loretta Chao loretta.chao@wsj.com]
From people stranded by snowstorms to the extramarital affairs of television anchors, news travels quickly in China, although that hasn't been the case for the recent Tibetan antigovernment protests. State-run coverage of the protests has been sparse. While China Central Television, China's national broadcaster, has run footage from the riots of people taking to the streets and overturning cars, it only showed Tibetans attacking ethnic Han-Chinese interests. It didn't show the armed police who have stopped the protests in Lhasa. Aside from the state-run Xinhua news agency, other media have largely been silent on the issue. Media haven't covered news that the protests spread beyond Lhasa to other Chinese provinces. Despite the dominance of the Internet in everyday life, this is one of the rare cases when the government's filtering technology, in addition to self-censorship among Internet media companies and media consumers, seemingly has been successful in stifling a big news item.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120577947315842573.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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* VOA and RFA Increase Broadcasts to Tibet
"The violent crackdown by Chinese authorities in Tibet compels us to increase our broadcasts," said James K. Glassman, Chairman of the BBG, which oversees all non-military U.S. international broadcasting including the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA). "Our audience clearly will benefit from these trustworthy sources of news and information, which differ sharply from Chinese government sanctioned broadcasts."
http://www.bbg.gov/_bbg_news.cfm?articleID=161&mode=general

* Cellphone Pictures In Lhasa
[Commentary] Cellphone photographs and videos from Tibet, blurry and amateurish, are circulating on the Internet. Some show clouds of tear gas; others, burning buildings and shops; still others, monks in purple robes, riot police and confusion. Watching them, it is impossible not to remember the cellphone videos and photographs sent out from burning Rangoon only six months ago.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR200803...