Press freedom in China

Chinese police stop Tony Cheng, Al Jazeera’s Beijing correspondent, and his crew from filming

Recent unrest in Tibet has once again raised questions about media freedom in China.

In the lead up to the Olympics, China issued new regulations which supposedly allowed reporters to travel anywhere and interview anyone who agreed to talk to them.

But in the initial days of the riots in Lhasa, international media organisations found it difficult to get visas to travel to Tibet.

Authorities claimed Western reporting of the situation was biased and demonised China.

Chinese state media said the unrest was organised by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, in an attempt to derail the Olympics.

The gulf between Western perceptions of this developing superpower and China’s desire to control the message now seems bigger than ever.

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This episode of 101 East aired on Thursday, April 3, 2008

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