Contact is taking a holiday!

Tibet remains effectively closed to outside media coverage
Photo: tibetpost.com

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China based in Beijing has recently issued a report on media access in Tibet. The organisation concluded that Tibet remains the most intriguing and tightly controlled region in China today, saying that the Chinese government claims that this restriction is necessary to prevent any pessimistic reports about the situation of the autonomous region.

The professional journalists association report stated “These restrictions prevent the world from learning the real story of Tibet, and prevent China from telling its story. They also fuel suspicion about government treatment of Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), and prevent journalists from confirming that investment and poverty alleviation efforts have improved the lives of people there, as China claims”.

The survey was based on 142 responses from foreign journalists based in China, including 35 from non-FCCC members.

It revealed that more than three quarters of applications to visit Tibet were rejected by the Chinese authorities. The remaining quarter of the journalists, who were granted access, were taken on individual trips within the region. Most of the journalists who did not apply to go to the TAR said that it was because they either did not believe they would receive a positive answer or because they thought that the escorted expedition would not be representative of the actual situation there.

Foreign journalists who have were granted permission to visit Tibet were taken on a five-day trip last year.

The report quoted a journalist who went on the trip as saying, “In general, I found the trip useful in the sense that it gave me a glimpse of Tibet, the government’s policies and point of view. There was no chance to do independent reporting per se or freedom to travel to regions or areas that were not included in the trip, nor could I extend the trip on my own. But it was better than nothing. I asked all questions that I wanted to officials, who candidly responded with their own discourse to my questions about more sensitive issues that you don’t usually see explained in state media or press conferences in Beijing. Yes, it was heavy on propaganda, but I was able to get a picture of how the government sees Tibet and how it envisions its future.”