The Media and China’s Deadly Riots

ABC's Chito Romana reports from Beijing: Chinese officials are using a different approach towards the foreign media in Xinjiang, an approach that is different from the hardline policy used in Tibet. Instead of an outright ban on foreign media coverage, the government has set up a news center for foreign journalists reporting in Urumqi, lodging them in a designated hotel, arranging press tours around the city and organizing news conferences by government officials. While the internet connection in most parts of the city has been cut off, the news center is equipped with 50+ computers with internet access. State media reported that about 60 foreign journalists and 80 Chinese journalists are now in Urumqi to cover the aftermath of the riot.  But the coverage of the Urumqi riot in the state media echoes the themes of last year’s Tibet coverage – the riot was masterminded by overseas forces (in this case, the Dalai Lama’s counterpart is Rebiya Kadeer and the World Uighur Congress) and was perpetrated by splittist forces (in this case, the “East Turkestan separatists”) who killed and injured innocent Han Chinese and smashed their shops and other properties.