This weekend, Chinese citizens living abroad protested against Western media-bias in cities around the globe. Yesterday’s global day of protest, organised by Chinese officials, saw emigrants gather in dozens of cities to condemn the media’s sympathy towards the Free-Tibet Movement and its negative portrayal of China. Protests were held in Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna, New York and many cities throughout China. Activists claimed that media outlets such as the BBC and CNN had presented only one side of the story in their coverage, and feared that biased reporting would stimulate ill-feeling and prejudice towards China.
The BBC’s failure to report these protests yesterday underlined the arguments of the demonstrators. Journalists at the BBC could hardly have missed the group of over 1,000 Chinese students gathered in front of the Beeb’s Manchester offices to voice their anger. While bosses did issue a statement denying their allegations and claiming that BBC coverage had been fair, there was no mention of these protests on the channel’s evening news programmes. As Chinese journalist Lee Siu Hin has pointed out, the network’s lack of coverage doesn’t bode well for it.
