Phayul, Wednesday, November 05, 2008
By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, November 5: China's top nine state-run media, including 
the official Xinhua news agency and People's Daily Online, are set to 
launch a major propaganda drive beginning today to highlight the 
social and economic development of Tibet over the last 30 years.

"China's major network media will on November 5th start a series 
report on the last 30 years of Tibet after the reform and opening-up 
policy in China," China's online Tibet news service. en.Tibet.cn 
reported on Nov 3.

The report said the massive state-sponsored move will help 
"international readers to better understand Tibet".

"9 state-run media like Xinhua and People's Daily Online will take 
part in the report together with some media in China's network 
developed provinces or cities," the report said.

The report said the purposeful coverage activity of Tibet by these 
networks is being jointly sponsored by the Publicity Department of 
Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and the Publicity Department of the 
Party Committee of TAR, with the network sponsorship of China Tibet 
Information Centre (which runs en.Tibet.cn) and Chinatibetnews.

The report also said China Tibet Information Center will send 
journalists to Tibet to join in the coverage.

The propaganda drive comes even as Tibet remains off-limits for 
foreign journalists.

Following massive clampdown on anti-China demonstrations by Tibetans 
earlier this year, Tibet remained under intense military lockdown. 
China blocked communications and, kicked out journalists and tourists 
out of Tibet, making it almost impossible for the outside world to 
verify the number of dead and the situation inside the region.

China sent military troops in 1949 to occupy Tibet.

China's ruling Communist Party, which maintains strict controls on the 
flow of information within the country and keeps the domestic press on 
a tight leash, says its presence in Tibet has resulted in 
modernization of the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan country.

Critics, however, say modernisation in Tibet has been crushingly 
imposed by the Chinese authorities along with draconian measures that 
continue to restrict freedom of expression, freedom to follow a 
religion of choice, curtailment of opportunity. They point out that, 
at no point of time, China has taken into account the needs of the 
people of Tibet and has sought to crush its culture and religion in 
the most appalling manner. Analysts say that most of the developmental 
progress taking place in Tibet does not bring benefits to the ethnic 
Tibetans, but rather to the growing population of Han Chinese in Tibet 
that lead to increasing poverty and marginalisation of Tibetan people 
within Tibet.