I am ofcourse in favor of free press and fear free reporting at any time. But I cannot understand why the issue of press censorship by Chinese government was overblown out of proportions by global media. There are thousands of instances where media and news reporting are controlled by an outside agency be it government or other vested interests etc, to finally make 100% free press a myth, and many of these cases are never highlighted, the most being slowly slid under the carpet..
The year 2008 is understandably, very crucial for Chinas long term plan.The media exposure and world prominance brought by the Olympics makes China in the media spotlight. And it becomes natural for the dissenting Tibetans to find this as the most opportune time to riot and arson the holy city of Lhasa. Chinese military police already known for their hard measures then duly supress the dissent. What is unnatural s the way the issue has been highlighted in a way to question the human policy issues of China. Any developed country be it US, France, Germany etc has shown precedent in restricting press at the time of national crisis. So why make big cries over the issue when China does the same out of sheer necessity. I can predict that, in some days China will allow "special" foreign media into Lhasa and make sure that only the desired news is published, and US will laud China over its "open" media policies. This is the way the state machinery works
