The recent coverage of the unrest in Tibet by Newscorp is another example of how Rupert Murdoch's media empire bends over backwards to support the Chinese Government.
The protests in Tibet and neighboring Nepal against the Chinese Government have been at the top of the World News sites for the past few days. Newscorp owned media outlets (Fox News, New York Post, Times of London and others) has covered the conflict differently than others, and just why is explained by Newscorp CEO Rupert Murdoch's relationship with China.
The Chinese media market is strictly controlled. Other companies such as Yahoo and Google have assisted in handing over IP Addresses of dissenting Chinese bloggers and others who use the internet to access the world around them. The words "Dalai Lama" and "Falun Gong" turn up no results on Google China, and the famous Tank Man photo (see below) does not appear in a search of "Tiananmen Square" on Yahoo China.
With the new unrest in Tibet, state controlled media outlet Xinhua has accused the Dalai Lama of encouraging the violence. The Tibetan Government-In-Exile based in the Indian city of Dharmsala has told the AFP that 130 have been killed in the violence. The New York Post repeated Xinhua's criticism of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she visited with the Dalai Lama.
Fox News has produced no original reporting on the subject, its news reports coming from the Associated Press.
News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch has courted the Chinese Government to expand his media empire inside the country, owning the Hong-Kong based Phoenix Television and STAR TV. Murdoch's company also owns Myspace, whose China site censors mentions of the Dalai Lama, Tibet and the Falun Gong.
Murdoch has previously dropped the BBC from STAR TV's line-up in 1994 in order to please Beijing. Murdoch's current wife, Wendi Deng, is a former executive at STAR.
News Corp owned Harper Collins dropped plans to publish a book by former Governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten as punishment for introducing more democratic freedom in Hong Kong during the final years of British rule. He also purchased the publication rights to My Father: Deng Xiaoping by Deng Rong in 1995, and through a party for the youngest daughter of the man widely held responsible for the massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
In 1999, Murdoch described the Dalai Lama as a "very old political monk shuffling around in Gucci shoes" to Vanity Fair. In 2001, STAR executive James Murdoch, Rupert's youngest son, described the persecuted Falun Gong movement as a "dangerous" and "apocalyptic cult."
So far, no opinion pieces or commentators for outlets owned by Murdoch have commented on Tibet. Maybe they have been told not to, for fear of losing money.
