Foreign media on China

The junket to Tibet

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, March 27, 2008 8:34 AM

There is currently some discord amongst the foreign correspondents of Beijing:

The Chinese government has invited 26 foreign journalists to Lhåsa to check out the situation themselves. The problem has been caused by the invitation list: AP is on, but Reuters is not. The Wall Street Journal and USA Today are also confirmed to be on the list.

Furthermore, according to Danwei sources, the invited media have not agreed to pool their reporting and video, meaning that the left out newspapers and new agencies will have to rely on their competitors for second hand information, photos and video.

But the debate may be merely academic: sitting in Beijing with a mobile phone and a modem, anyone with sufficient curiosity probably has access to better information than any of the Potemkin nonsense that the junket journalists will probably see.

UPDATE: Tim Johnson, the Beijing bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers — not on the junket — has published a letter from the Foreign Correspondents Club of Beijing to the government complaining about restricted access

Charles Hutzler, Beijing Bureau chief of Associated Press, has a report from the trip. Shai Oster of The Wall Street Journal has another report. Geoff Dyer of The Financial Times has a report here, and an audio podcast and image gallery here.

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There are currently 4 Comments for The junket to Tibet.

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Comments on The junket to Tibet

Pathetic. And illuminating. For all of the high-minded talk about "just" being humble reporters who "just' want to bring the story to readers and viewers - we now learn that turf and a desire for a Pulitzer trumps civic-mindedness.

I'm as sympathetic and concerned about the Tibetan situation as the next expat, but let's face facts: one of the factors motivating this story is the glory that accrues to the journalists who cover it. And the ones covering it are LOVING it. Surely, it beats the hell out of covering the emerging Chinese insurance industry ... how else to explain why the New York Times's Shanghai-based biz correspondent has a story on Tibet in this morning's edition?

What a bunch of catty little children. And, for the record: shame on those who won't pool, but thanks for reminding us - those who don't get to go - just how badly you all want the "truth" about Tibet to get out.

Posted by: Johnson | March 27, 2008 10:45 AM

Just a note, the Net Nanny appears to be going crazy over the most recent AP report. Apparently some monks started complaining in Mandarin (refreshingly different from the all-English protests outside the area) that the protests weren't organized by the DL, not following the script. I wish I could read more, but the page keeps resetting.

Posted by: Ryan | March 27, 2008 11:49 AM

In Nanjing with China Telecom: Almost all the major newspaper sites are not loading or are slowed to the point of nodding off. This, after some days of nearly wide-open access. I got to 2 out of 3 of the links above before my "connection was reset" on the WSJ article.

I guess the Nanny has a rather low opinion of The Guardian as it loads straight up.

Posted by: chengdude | March 27, 2008 12:57 PM

@Chengdude: I think its that the Net Nanny has been warned off of blocking the groniad's site due to a certain 'strongly worded letter' ;)

Posted by: juhuacha | March 27, 2008 3:22 PM