Chinese and Western media have clashed since the beginning of the Lhasa riot, an individual using the screen name "Qiu Zhenhai" said in a posting.
Many Western media organizations, including CNN, observed events in Tibet through rose-colored glasses. Their reports, inconsistent with the facts, could be imputed to Westerners' "Tibet complex" and the difference in political values between China and Western countries, the netizen said.
A netizen posting from 60.215.184.* said that the Chinese government's handling of the riot in Lhasa was an internal affair and asked why some Western countries always acted like a world savior. "If the southern part of the United States declares independence, would you agree? If Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom asked for independence, would you agree?" the netizen said.
Another netizen, visiting from 60.167.73.*, said that press freedom did not mean the freedom to make up a story or incriminate others with false evidence. The netizen said that such behavior was an infringement of human rights.
The netizen suggested suing Western media organizations that produced false information on the riot, using the facts and evidence in China, and ascertaining the responsibilities of the authors, editors and their organizations.
Yet another netizen said in a posting on www.sohu.com that the Chinese government should take a harder line in handling the Tibet issue, since whatever the government did, the Western media, holding deep-rooted bias against China, would not stop its criticism.
Western scholars, politicians and media have made elaborate efforts to create a favorable press environment for their countries, and the United States is obviously a beneficiary of that situation, a netizen using the name of "Feng Yiju" said on www.southcn.com.
The netizen called on Chinese citizens to boycott the Western media's reports and express their own perspectives and interpretations of Chinese issues.
(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2008)