Chapter 16 Legal Controls and Freedoms of Expression

After reading this chapter, I have realized how much of a government's operating system affects media and how it reaches its people. For the most part, after years of revision, freedom of speech and expression is relatively free in the United States. Sure, there may be some loose ends but at least we are protected by a legal document that safe guards our rights.  The United States Constitution.

However, in a country like China where the government is highly bureaucratic and single partied, the media does not protect individual rights. As a Tibetan, I have been been keen to keep up with China's wrong doings. Not only with Tibetan issues but with their overall human rights violations that have directly affected a whole range of people. And to cover up their wrongdoings their main weapon that they have continually used and abused was their state-controlled media, the CCTV.

I have had the pleasure to visit Tibet during 2007. I had the great opportunity to see my home land. The homes of my grandmother and grandfather. Instead of listening to my grandmother talk about a stream where she used to play  i got to see the stream. I got to step in the stream and feel the water. Just as she did when she was a little girl. This was significant because i realize that not many Tibetans who have been born into exile will ever get the opportunity to set their eyes on Tibet. Tibetans have been continually denied entry into their home land by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). While there, in a little internet cafe, i googled "Chinese Invasion of Tibet". And all i got there were tourism and vacation sites for Tibet. There was not a single page that mentioned any of China's past actions or anything that supported Tibetan struggle. And so, i googled "Tiananmen Square Massacre" and i got the same results. All that resulted were tourism sites for Tiananmen Square. This was how they erased history and moved on. The people in China won't be able to participate in a discussion that opposed the county. They are so heavily censored that it's almost impossible to get a message across let alone a movement.

In another example, during the 2008 crackdown of Tibetans (This was during the Beijing Olympics).  Tibetan monks rose to their feet and publicly demanded a Free Tibet, for the return of the Dalai Lama and for Human Rights. They were met with military response. China kicked reporters out of the country and publicly reported on how Tibetans were violently rioting throughout the country. After much public pressure and the fear that they may lose their olympic bid, China finally allowed for an escorted media tour. In the mean time, social networks like Twitter and Facebook and youtube were shut down.

During this one incident while on the media tour,  Tibetan monks take the opportunity to tell foreign journalists and the world what was really going on behind China's "closed doors".