Five dead, nothing said

The brutal slaying of five young girls burnt to death when the shop they were working in was torched during the Lhasa riot went largely unreported in the western media.

It didn’t fit the western preconception that the Tibet uprising was all about Chinese troops firing on peacefully demonstrating monks.

Chinese TV showed convincing coverage of the outrage including interviews with distraught relatives but nearly two weeks later no western outlet had mentioned it. Finally, yesterday the New York Times carried an article which, while acknowledging the tragedy, so minced its words as to be insulting to the memory of the girls.

Let’s be honest, the western press operates under severe restrictions in China, but the restrictions are not new. Basically western journalists while denied access can write what they like. All the more shameful that they got this one wrong while the tightly controlled and censored Chinese press got it right.

The western media has not exactly covered itself with glory with its coverage of the Tibet crisis. On the contrary, it has scored a massive own goal by losing the trust of the middle class Chinese who in the past viewed it as an antidote to China’s laughable state-controlled media.