Chinese military shooting Tibetans (not covered by US Media)

I read quite a bit of international news.  Did you see the video on BBC?  Go to the BBC web site and look for "Tibetan killing".  Or, watch this YouTube video:

http://youtube.com/... (it's in German... the actual video is about 30 seconds in)

For those who don't want to watch the video, here's a description:

A ROMANIAN TV station has broadcast footage of Tibetan refugees being shot dead on a Tibetan mountain pass as they attempt to flee Chinese Tibet, according to The Associated Press and internet weblogs.

The video from Pro-TV shows scenes of what the video's narrator says are Chinese border guards, and later cuts to footage of a line of figures walking through snow, one of whom drops to the ground after the sound of rifle fire.

Is this not one of the most disturbing things you've seen?

China says its guards were "acting in self-defense".

But what is perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that, as near as I can tell, this has not been covered by the US media at all.  Check out Google News on the topic.  I have no explanation for why Australia, India, UK, France, and other countries are covering this... yet the US isn't.  Perhaps it is on broadcast TV?

THE US MEDIA IS NOT COVERING THIS BECAUSE TO COVER IT WOULD RESULT IN THEIR SITE, AND OTHER PROPERTIES, BEING BANNED BY CHINESE MEDIA. The BBC is NOT accessible from China. Fox, and other companies, are similarly concerned about banishments. And therefore they self-censor that which is critical of China.

Here's an earlier diary on the topic.

I don't mean to get overly paranoid about this particular instance. But, as China's hold on us financially grows and grows, one must seriously consider our ability, as a gov't and nation and media, to address China's human rights issues. As China consumes more of our media, will our huge conglomerates shape the news, both domestically and internationally, to not run afoul of Chinese censors (thereby risking ALL of their media properties)? As China holds more dollar reserves, will the US gov't bow to Chinese pressure to avoid criticism of Chinese human rights issues?

Meanwhile, State-side, instead of showing the Tibetan video, here are some headlines from CNN.com:

Eight suspended for sideline-clearing brawl
Son charged in five family deahts
Strange invader at Waikiki
Family shot in rural Iowa home
Stripper workouts catching on

•  any explanation for why the US media...

  ... isn't covering this?

  by lokiloki on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 02:28:37 PM PDT

  •  No excuse.

    I remember Bill Clinton's visit to China in 1998. He stood side by side with President Jiang, and addressed a live audience on Chinese TV, to promote the virtues of freedom of expression and democracy. Of course the Chinese people liked Clinton and his words had meaning.

    On the other hand Bush has not addressed these issues. When he went to China he largely stayed in Shanghai, and focused on economic, not political matters. The outside political pressure on Beijing to improve human rights has weakened under Bush, and President Hu has definitely responded to that by feeling freer to crack down. Of course now even if Bush tried, he would have less credibility than Clinton did.

    by Beet on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 02:59:02 PM PDT

  •  Story was just on NBC World News a few minutes...

    ago. It was rather extensive too. That is how I just learned of it and decided to check DKos to see if there were any supporting diaries.
    And there was---yours.

    by vassmer on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 03:48:25 PM PDT

•  North Korea

  There must be some backroom negotiations with China over North Korea and Tibet would complicate matters so let's ignore it.

  The US MSM is well trained by now.

  by Shockwave on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 02:30:59 PM PDT

  •  Uh huh.

    So human rights takes a back door to everything else. Typical of the current Washington D.C. mindset.

    by Beet on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 03:00:52 PM PDT

    •  Typical..

      of the current world mindset. Sadly, the EU is not pressuring China much either. Now that China has a market economy, no-one cares about democracy or freedom or human rights or whatever fancy words they used to throw at the country and its ruling party.

      by tzt on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 03:07:02 PM PDT

•  Covered on NPR n/t

  We are men of action; lies do not become us.

  by ER Doc on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 02:33:21 PM PDT

•  Thanks for bringing attention...

  to this. If everyone who reads it calls the local office of their congressmen, perhaps nothing will come of it, but at least they will be made aware of this. That's a step...

  by cheeseismoldymilk on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 04:46:41 PM PDT

•  It's unfortunate

  that with the abysmal US record on human rights, we have no moral high ground from which to pressure China on this matter.

  by curmudgiana on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 04:47:10 PM PDT

•  Horrible stuff

  As I said in my previous diary (thanks for the link BTW), this is a horrible mess. I really feel for the Tibetans.

  The video evidence is particularily horrible and devestating, especially after the Chinese claimed their border guards shot in self defense - which from the video is obviously not true.

  by taonow on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 04:54:02 PM PDT

•  It was on NBC world news tonight..

  by wrights on Sun Oct 15, 2006 at 05:24:51 PM PDT