Shortly after the deadly flash floods hit the border of Nepal and China on Aug. 26, Nepalese authorities released a list of names, ages and nationalities of hundreds of missing foreigners. In contrast, Chinese authorities took five days to disclose that the 261 foreigners missing in Tibet come from 23 countries.
Twelve days on, very little is known about the victims in Tibet as Chinese authorities have restricted reporting on the floods.
To date, Nepal has reported over 1,300 dead and nearly 5,000 missing, while China is reporting over 40 dead and more than 500 missing.
“Xinhua (state-run news agency) and (state broadcaster) CCTV have total information dominance,” said David Bandurski in Taipei with the China Media Project, which monitors news censorship in China.
These outlets are expected to “guide public opinion,” he said.
While China has always censored information, controls have tightened steadily over the last decade, he said to levels that are “unprecedented.”
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The International Campaign for Tibet claims at least 300 homes were destroyed in Gyirong County, and Fioresi said the casualty count could be “much higher” than the dozens reported by Chinese officials so far.
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In the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, various Chinese media outlets sent hundreds of journalists to the scene “in direct violation of an explicit ban from the central propaganda department of the Communist Party,” Bandurski said.
This time, he said, the Southern Metropolis Daily, known for its journalistic investigations, ran only one front page cover on the floods in the days after the disaster, and it was an article reprinted from the official Xinhua news agency.
“They didn’t do additional reporting,” Bandurski said, adding that it was unusual for the paper.
Bandurski said his team saw the same pattern in other commercial Chinese media outlets.
“Xi Jinping has reined in the [commercial] press, such as it was developing in the 2000s,” he said. “We see a total control of the narrative and basic news and information.”
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Meanwhile, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), a global NGO, calls for timely, independent information and access to Tibet on humanitarian grounds after Nepal-Tibet disaster,
Families of the missing remain without answers as China restricts access, punishes at least 19 people for flood posts challenging official casualty figures and amplifies the state’s account of relief efforts …
Wow someone from a hong kong Baptist University and someone from Taiwan saying the cpc is censoring information
It’s astonishing that people buy this but I guess I shouldn’t be.
Whenever I hear the initial number of people who die in an incident in China. I take the number, double it, and change the unit. It’s normally not far off. ie 3 = 60.
Chinese state-run media and the truth: name a more iconic duo
